Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was dark.

Adrien knew this darkness.

It was cold and stagnant, but familiar.

He had a hard time focusing.

He couldn’t remember how he got here, or where here was. 

But he knew he had to find something.

Iridescent crystals and blush lotuses came to mind but soon disappeared.

What was he doing here? 

What did he need to do here?

He looked about. 

There was something glowing, just over there.

Adrien didn’t remember starting to walk but he must have since he was moving closer to the blue light.

As he approached, more blue lights appeared, and finally, when he was near, hundreds to thousands floated within the darkness.

Small, blue flames.

These too seemed familiar.

Adrien reached out, feeling as if the fire would flicker out.

He saw a clawed grey hand, but when he blinked, there was nothing there, and the fire did not disappear.

Confused, he looked down at himself.

Oh.

He, too, was a blue flame.

<◉>

Marinette hadn’t known what to do.

She knew she ought to have gone after Jack, but when she had looked up to the almost completely dark world, she hadn’t a clue where she had gone.

Pain thrummed behind Marinette’s eyes, her brain not happy with her crying for so long after getting a concussion. She sighed, she couldn’t do anything about the aching until she got some pain meds, seeing as she wouldn’t be able to use the Miracle Cure just yet. She knew that she should rest with a concussion, but she also had to eventually go out and fight Jack again, she hoped her head wouldn’t retaliate too harshly. 

She looked about the rooftop, letting the fact that she now had bodies in hand settle in her mind. 

Marinette wouldn’t be able to fight Jack even if she could with them around.

Adrien still lay within her lap, cold and unfeeling, slowly becoming stiff, beneath the cover of the pumpkin leaf. 

Alya and Nino were still in suit, Nino in Alya’s lap and Alya fallen over atop Nino. Usually by now, their transformation would have run out since they’d used their power, but Marinette supposed that because their bodies were no longer alive, the power they had access to no longer had a limit. 

She’d have to ask Tikki about it later, when she’d gotten off the roof.

Ah, yeah, that would be a good place to start.

Marinette herself was also still in suit. 

She looked up at the helicopter that had completely stopped moving and merely hovered there. They hadn’t even turned on their lights yet. She wondered how much longer they could stay up there.

She shrugged.

It didn’t actually matter to her. In all likelihood, the moment she moved away from here, they would go back to the station.

She was sure that the camera was still running though. If they were so shocked that they hadn’t moved at all, then she doubted they’d turned off the camera, so Marinette would have to be careful about this.

Marinette -yes, she was Marinette, because she didn’t really feel like a hero at the moment despite the magical suit still covering her- lightly tugged on the pumpkin leaf, pulling it down. She grabbed her yoyo and threw it at the stem, cutting the leaf from the ground.

The leaf fell the last bit farther, now properly covering Adrien.

She slid out from under Adrien and kneeled.

Marinette got to work properly wrapping him up in it in a way that no one could see who he was.

Then, she picked him up and held him close, like he had for her that day she had caught a fever and she had gone to him for comfort.

She walked to Rena and Carapace.

Surprisingly, or perhaps not, her ink tears hadn’t affected them, and now that she thought of it, neither had they affected Adrien.

Carefully, holding Adrien in one arm, she lifted Rena and gently hefted her onto her shoulder. Then, shifting Adrien to the other arm, did the same with Carapace on her other side.

Standing up properly, she tested if they’d stay.
After a small jump and a twist with neither of her friends falling off, she found it would work. She probably had to thank the super strength for being able to carry them.

Not sparing another glance to the mess of a roof, she leapt away and began her journey home.

Where else was she to go?

She doubted Nino and Alya’s parents knew about their childrens’ extracurriculars and Adrien ran away for a reason. Her parents already knew who Adrien was, and likely who she was. It was safe there. So that’s where she’d go.

As she ran across rooftops, windows and street lamps slowly lit up, glittering off the black sidewalks and streets, as if becoming the new stars that had disappeared from the sky. Only few lit the night.

The moon was nowhere to be seen.

Even as Paris stirred to life again, the Eiffel Tower remained dark.

The Eiffel Tower was the heart of Paris, often it would turn off at earlier times when tragedy struck as a way to honor the victims of whatever it was turning off for, but never once did it simply not turn on at all.

It disappeared that night, swallowed by the darkness, for it was the heart of Paris, the place where Ladybug had first declared she’d protect all, and how could the heart exist when it was gone?

Marinette reached her balcony unhindered, but when she landed, it felt as if she was suddenly hit by an incredible wave of exhaustion, and she fell to her knees.

Her trap door burst open and she looked up tiredly to see her parents climbing out of it. Her vision blurred and the world pulled once more on her, or perhaps it pushed her, because now she was alone.

“You and me against the world.”

That’s what he said.

That’s what he said and yet it was only her now. 

She doubted she could even go get help from Master Fu now, because something happened to him and now Nino and Alya were Guardian and they were dead.

What was she to do now?

Her eyelids felt heavy.

She’d figure that out later. For now, she was just gonna drop to the ground and act as dead as the people in her arms.

Marinette fell, but it was into something soft and warm.

Surprised, Marinette’s eyes flickered up to meet her parents’ watery ones.

“Oh sweetheart.” Sabine whispered, voice pained, caressing her cheek and trying to wipe the ink away, but it wouldn’t fade, because Marinette didn’t want it to, not like how Adrien’s never stuck.

She wanted these to stay, and so they seeped into her face and stained her skin.

Tom gathered her and the bodies she clung to, and brought her down into her room.

They set her down on her chaise lounge before gently taking Rena and Carapace from her shoulders, laying them down, side by side, on the wood floor before her.

She looked at them properly for the first time and noticed differences in their suits that hadn’t been there before.

Had Alya’s tail always been a proper tail? Had she ever had a hood?

Had Nino always had reflective bits and swirling designs?

The suits probably changed to accommodate their new interests, which was what Marinette had made.

Wow. 

Ok, so Adrien was the only one without a wardrobe change now.

…

Actually, she had yet to see him transformed without his hoodie, so she couldn’t be sure.

Marinette was drawn from her lazy thoughts when her father tried to take Adrien from her arms.

She held onto him tighter. 

No, no he can’t take him.

Not him.

He was gone now.

This was all she had left.

They couldn’t take even his body from her too.

Tom stopped trying with a sigh before kneeling down in front of her.

Come to think of it, where had her mother gone?

“Cupcake, I need you to lie down and rest and you can’t do that when you’re still holding onto him. I promise we won’t take off with him, he’ll stay here, so please, won’t you let him go?”

Marinette almost wanted to refuse, but then she looked into her father’s eyes and saw how worried he was, saw the hurt and anxiety lying beneath the surface. 

She- she could let go of him for a bit and rest, as long as her father felt better. She didn’t want to see him so hurt.

Her grip relaxed and Tom offered a small smile before lifting Adrien’s still wrapped body from her hands.

For some reason, the leaf was covered in red now. 

Then Marinette looked down and realized that oh, that was because she was bleeding.

Her suit was torn on her legs and arms and stomach and from every tear there was blood and open flesh.

Marinette didn’t look too closely.

Despite the pain that was slowly coming back and the way her body protested it, Marinette stood, and asked her father to put Adrien on the chaise. There wasn’t much room left on the floor for another body and she didn’t want him placed near the dustier corners of her room.

Tom debated it for a moment before finally putting him back on the chaise.

He moved back to head downstairs and check that Sabine got everything properly, giving Marinette space to unwrap Adrien.

The leaf fell away and once again, Marinette was face to face with his dead form.

He had scratches here and there that no longer bled but it seems he did better than her at evading the vines, though most of the injuries she sustained was actually because she ran through the damn things so it wasn’t that hard to get away with less than her.

He was still in his hoodie, miraculously unscathed despite the fact that he had worn it to battle, and she realized that perhaps his transformation had made an exact copy of the thing so that he never had to part with it. The black of the fabric just further pointed out how dead he was. His lips were blue, cheeks lacking warmth. He had looked miserable the past four days but Marinette supposed that you can’t beat death at making someone look wretched.

Marinette refused to think of the lack of heartbeat, of how, despite being in a room with three other people, only her own heartbeat remained, echoing throughout the empty room.

If she thought about it, she’d burst into tears again, and this time, she likely wouldn’t be able to stop.

Sabine came through her trapdoor with cups of tea on a platter and Tom close behind, carrying their first aid kit.

Sabine looked at Marinette who was sitting before the chaise and then realized how many cups she had. 

“Oh.” she simply said, and just that one word made Marinette cut her hands on the pieces of her heart.

Four cups.

One for Marinette, one for Adrien, one for Alya, one for Nino.

Four cups.

Only one will be drank.

Three will sit and cool and go to waste.

Marinette fought hard against the tears threatening to spill.

She was barely lucky enough to blink them away.

Sabine placed the platter on Marinette’s desk, grabbed the single cup that would be used, and gave it to Marinette.

It was warm in her hands.

The pleasant smell of chamomile filled her nose.

Just the warmth and scent alone was enough to make some of the tension leave Marinette’s body.

Tom kneeled beside Marinette.

“Could you detransform for me cupcake?”

Marinette nodded and whispered, “Tikki, spots off.”

In a flash of light, the suit was gone and Tikki was limp and in her lap.

The pain hurt a lot more now, her brain pulsing with her body in waves of hurt.

She just pushed it further from her mind.

She looked up to Sabine and asked, “Can she have a cookie please? I’m sure she’s exhausted.”

Sabine nodded with a smile and scooped Tikki up before heading back downstairs. 

“I’m gonna have a look at your wounds now, alright?” Tom asked.

Marinette took a sip of the tea, enjoying the warmth that filled her with it, and nodded.

The smell of antiseptic stung at her nose as Tom began to attend to her wounds but she ignored it in favor of focusing on the pleasant scent of her tea.

Sabine came back when Tom was done with Marinette’s right leg with some painkillers and a recharged Tikki.

“Hey Tikki.” Marinette tried to smile but her mouth barely moved and her eyes did not lose their melancholy.

Tikki’s mouth screwed up and her forehead furrowed. Large tears began to slip down her small face. She whizzed through the air to hug Marinette’s cheek. 

“I’m sorry Marinette! I’m so sorry!”

Marinette brought her hand up to cup the kwami in her palm, “Don’t be sorry, really, I should be the one apologizing, because she took Plagg.” 

Tikki shook her head and continued to cry.

After a few minutes, Tikki’s tears slowed. Tom finished wrapping up Marinette’s other leg and had begun working on one of her arms, making her put down the tea.

When Tikki was finally calm, Marinette brought her down to look at her properly.

“Do you know why Nino and Alya are still transformed?”
Tikki looked over at Nino and Alya who almost looked like they were only sleeping should you look past their ashen hue.

“It’s a security measure.” She muttered, “To keep their identities secret. Under normal circumstances, Wayzz and Trixx would have taken the Miraculous off them and returned to the Miracle box and Guardian, but they’re already with the Guardian, so they stayed. If Nino and Alya weren’t the new Guardians, they would still stay transformed for a day or two even after Wayzz and Trixx took the Miraculous back.”
“So in this case, the transformation would still drop in a day or two? Or would it continue indefinitely?” Tom started working on her other arm so Marinette had to let go of Tikki, who now was floating on her own.

“I am not sure myself as usually, a new Guardian would be chosen before the previous Guardian died. For now though, we should probably take their Miraculous off.”

Sabine asked where their Miraculous were and Marinette told her.
The transformations slowly bubbled away once the necklace and bracelet were off, leaving Alya and Nino as simply Alya and Nino with two tired kwami on their chests.

Wayzz, shivering and curling further into himself as if he could possibly make himself disappear, whimpered and hid his tears behind his flippers. 

Trixx, despite being exhausted, crawled to Alya’s cheek, almost collapsing once or twice on his unstable paws, to lick her a few times before curling into a little ball and crying. “Kit, my kit is dead! My precious new kit is gone!”

Tikki watched them sadly and explained, “It’s always hard on a kwami when their holder dies in action. Wayzz has never had to go through it before as usually his holders are the Guardians and stay out of the line of fire.” She then floated over to Wayzz and pulled him into a hug.

Wayzz sobbed into Tikki’s arms.

It was heartbreaking.

Tom finished bandaging Marinette and joined Sabine who had watched from the side. 

Marinette turned to Tikki, “What do they like to eat?”

Over Wayzz’s head, she responded, “Trixx likes bacon or blueberries and Wayzz likes anything green tea.”

Sabine immediately headed down the stairs.

Moments later, she came back with a handful of blueberries and a few green macarons.

When the macarons were held out to Wayzz, he sniffled, tried to dry his tears, and looked at them for a moment before taking one. Slowly, he took a nibble. His face lit up when he recognized the flavor and he began to eat more fervently, tears spilling from his eyes once again.

“We were lucky that I started to experiment with some matcha.” Tom said in explanation. He knew Marinette would wonder where they got the macarons as they’d never had such a flavor before. 

Making sure it was okay, Tom lifted Marinette’s shirt a little and began dressing her abdomen.

The blueberries were offered to Trixx, but he didn’t take any.

With a sad look, Sabine left them in a small bowl on Marinette’s desk. “If you decide to eat something later, they’re here Trixx.” 

The only sign that he’d heard was a small twitch of his ear.

Marinette looked to her parents, “What about Nonna and Grandpapa?”

Sabine sighed and squeezed her nose bridge, “After your grandfather saw there was an akuma, he ran home to make sure his mice were okay. We somehow got Gina to go to bed in the guest room after she became upset that Rolland just up and left like that.”

Marinette nodded at the information. 

“Speaking of bed,” Tom spoke, done with the little treatment he could offer, “It’s time for you to rest.” He continued before Marinette could protest, “No one knows where Jack-o-lantern is and you’re hurt and tired. Please cupcake, get some rest before you go running off to face her again.”

Marinette, though reluctant, didn’t want to worry her parents more than she had to and so relented.

Tom and Sabine smiled, then Tom helped his daughter up so she could go to bed, tucking her in like he had when she was younger. Sabine brought blankets and pillows up from downstairs and draped the blankets over Nino, Alya, and Adrien before propping their heads up on the pillows. She then went up to join Tom on the side of her bed. 

“I called to let Alya and Nino’s parents know that they’d be sleeping over again.” She said. Marinette sighed in relief. One less problem to deal with.

“Thanks Maman .”

Sabine leaned down to kiss Marinette’s forehead, followed by Tom, before they wished her goodnight and returned downstairs. Marinette tried not to let her heart sting at the affectionate action. It was just that… Adrien was the one who did that for her now, every time they woke up.

She wiped the stray tears away. 

With her parents gone and only the soft cries of kwami and Tikki’s soothing words to fill the space, Marinette tried to sleep. 

It wasn’t too hard, she was exhausted and the chamomile tea had helped her relax, but when she finally slipped into slumber, she was back on that roof, watching over and over the moment her friends and love were taken from her, watching over and over just how much she failed , watching herself struggle against her binds from a small distance, and be unable to do anything aside from that.

After the fifth replay, Marinette couldn’t stand being there any longer, and tore herself from her mind, from the rooftop, and sat up gasping for air, covered in sweat.

A sob built in her throat but she cupped her hand over her mouth, keeping it locked inside.

She looked around in search of comfort, in search of her teddy bear, and found him down on the chaise lounge, silent. Tears spilled from her bluebell eyes. Her body shook with them. They should have been starlight. 

They should have been starlight but now they were midnight. They were shadows and ink. They were his tears. 

Quietly, she climbed down from her loft bed and stumbled to him, her Chaton , her partner, her love, her other half, her heart, but her heart no longer beat because it was stolen.

Everything was cold, so dark, her entire body ached, but it was not from the wounds now dressed and bandaged, it was from what she had lost. 

Her chest stung with every thrum that no longer existed. It felt as if there was a cavity in her torso, not unlike the one Nino had the time she had failed. 

She fell to his side, and held his calloused and slightly rough hand close, as if holding it would wake her up and she’d find it warm. 

She kept her eyes open. 

Burning the image of her love’s prone form, her friend’s cold bodies, into her mind.

She would not blink.

Every time she so much as shut them, she would flinch at the thought of returning there . 

The sorrow and grief, the regret and pain, they fueled her tears, his tears , and she felt as if she was drowning in the shadows and ink. She desperately gulped down air but she still couldn’t breathe -

The shadows pulled at her, the ink stained her, and she could not help but sink lower and lower, the hole where her heart should have been, cold and painful with every breath she took, as if he was still there to share his melancholy. She continued desperately clutching his hand like the lifeline it once had been, now merely a stone cold reminder of what could not be returned, and ignored the way her mind screeched at her from exertion.

Marinette wept till night faded to day but did not stop even then, for though the day had come, the sun did not.

[>!-<◉>-!<]

Gabriel didn’t remember much. 

Not from before . 

He vaguely recalled crying out in triumph that he now had one of the Miraculous and anxiously awaiting Jack-o-lantern, an akuma that finally got things done! 

Not only did she obtain the Miraculous of Destruction, she killed the holder!

He was so close.  

She finally arrived. 

Not at the actual lair, goodness no, who knew what was trailing her? He wouldn’t have an akuma in his lair so close to Emilie. 

So they were meeting on a random rooftop. 

It was dark and residential, meaning it was full of despair. 

Delicious despair. 

It was so deep. It pushed and pulled at him in waves, begging to be used, abused, enjoyed. He could pick anyone at random and they’d make an excellent akuma. 

He could wait though. He needed Jack to finish the job. Then he could reclaim the akuma and spend time playing in the misery before making a wish. 

She landed lightly behind him, barely making a sound, but he could see the light she carried, the light of souls, and he could feel the power that seemed to be bursting from her.

He turned, words of congratulations on the tip of his tongue, but when their eyes met, their was something… off.

Hawkmoth furrowed his brows in confusion. Something didn’t feel quite right. 

His face scrunched up further, suddenly quite absorbed in this new sense of wrongness, and that’s when he looked down.

Oh.

Pain blasted through his veins, seeming to tear him apart by every cell, every atom being separated, and there was so much agony that he couldn’t even react. 

Embedded into his chest was an iron grey vine, bubbles of black that reeked of destruction floating about the infernal thing. Where it had gone through his chest was a pool of black.

Hawkmoth moved his hand ever so slightly and felt his shattered sternum scratch against the rest of his insides, felt his ribs shudder, his organs slosh. He barely dared breathe but there was now a burning in his throat, clawing at his mouth, demanding he open his lips and allow it to escape, and Hawkmoth could do nothing against it. 

Blood fell from his mouth in a cough, warranting his shuddering chest to break even more around the vine that held still. 

His blood coated the vine, but it disintegrated into steam as if the blood was touched by acid.

Hawkmoth tried to hold very, very still as he yanked on the akuma in Jack, desirous to pull it away and perhaps akumatize someone so that they could heal him, however, he felt something stop him.

A lock.

It felt like a lock.

His akuma was trapped and protected from him.

But how could that be?

It was his akuma, he had control over it!

And yet, no matter how hard he pulled on it, calling it back, it wouldn’t budge.

Jack’s face literally split in a grin, the ragged tears in her cheeks opening to widen her mouth into a horrifying resemblance of a proper jack-o-lantern.

“Confused?” she asked and immediately continued on, she didn’t need an answer when she already knew it. “That’s what happens when I have more power than you.”

Gabriel didn’t understand. 

More power?

Jack, being kind as she is, pointed to the cavity in her chest.

“Not only do I have this jewel, the souls of Miraculous wielders have quite the punch in them.” 

Her grin grew impossibly wider, threatening to completely cut her face in half, and the sclera of those glowing blue eyes filled with darkness greater than Gabriel had ever seen. 

“I wonder how much power I will gain from you?”

Dread filled Gabriel and he quickly found that he did not like to be preyed on, so very hypocritical of him. 

“Why,” he spluttered, trying desperately to get air in his body despite the flooding of his lungs in blood, “Why are… you doing this?” his voice came out raspy and grated on even his own ears.

He knew, somehow he knew, that he was going to die in a bit, that there was nothing he could do to avoid it. 

Unexpectedly, he had no qualms with that fact, it didn’t quite seem to register, neither did his failure. If he was to die in a few moments, he’d like to know why the dog he fed turned and bit his hand.

Jack simply smiled, her dark eyes glittering with malevolence.

So he was to be denied the knowledge. 

Fine.

That was fine.

At the very least, he would be joining his dear Emilie soon.

Content with that fact, he allowed his eyes to slide shut and the pain to dull until nothing was left, only darkness. 

He should have known that if Jack was petty enough to not even answer his last question, there was no way she’d let him just go like that.

But he hadn’t thought of it.

He wished he did now.

If he had, he would’ve fought tooth and nail to get away from her, even if he simply ended up dying on another rooftop, it would’ve been better than this.

Gabriel sat against the wall of his cage, head back and against it. 

He looked broken.

That was indeed what happened.

He had awoken in here soon after the darkness consumed him and he thought perhaps it was all a dream. 

He’d gotten up for the day and dressed himself, preparing for another day of work and possibly an akumatization. 

As per his routine, after brushing his teeth, he headed to his atelier, skipping breakfast, and went down to see his lovely Emilie before he got working.

However, when he had gotten to the repository, not all the lights were working. Many were completely off, others flickering, and others shining as they should. One of the working lights was the one directly above Emilie, it led him to her like the moth to a flame he was.

Something had obviously been wrong, but Gabriel hadn’t been stressed, if the light’s weren’t working, he could simply get someone to repair them. The shrubbery he usually kept up seemed to be rotting, and that was unfortunate, but he could just replace them. There was still no true need to stress, but it wasn’t just the lights or the shrubbery.

Before him, below the main brilliance, the cryogenic pod was open.

Her body lay strewn about, decimated and torn in a gory display. Once white butterflies were dark and also in a similar state as his precious Emilie.

Her organs were trailed across the entire platform, her limbs chopped off and thrown about here and there.

Her torso still lay in her pod, cracked open like a walnut, her ribs on exhibit for the world to see.

Blood was everywhere, coating almost everything.

He wondered how he had not noticed the horrible stench of rot and the heavy smell of iron before?

What truly got to him though, was her head.

Propped up on the pod, in a swath of her golden locks, dirtied by brown and red, Emilie stared at him with greyed, half lidded eyes that no longer resembled the brilliant green of life, her face blank and yet it still felt as if he was being judged a sinner.

Gabriel ran.

That was not his Emilie.

His Emilie would never look at him like that.

There was not even a possibility of her becoming like that, so he must be dreaming still.

Like that, he woke up again.

Afraid of the state his Emilie was in, he skipped his morning routine, rushing past Nathalie, ignoring her questions.

Gabriel calmed when he saw that the lights were fine, the shrubbery green. Though for some reason, the main light was off, and no matter how many times he flipped the switch, nothing happened, so he opened the window, and promptly fell to his knees in dismay.

Her arms, hands, legs, feet, stomach, all of it was stained red with her blood, for Emilie was tacked onto the window like a butterfly, his white butterflies innocently fluttering about her form, except it wasn’t so innocent, for when he looked closer, he realized they were tearing her body apart in small pieces, consuming her remains.

Gabriel wanted to throw up, but before he could, he woke once again in his bed, and over and over and over and over and over again he would rush to his repository and bear witness again and again to gory displays that should not have been possible, because she was safe from the world, no one but Adrien and Nathalie knew of this room’s existence and they would never do this to her. They loved her as much as he did.

No, he loved her more, but they came close, so there was no way they would do this.

So why?

Why was she like this?

One time, his hands felt uncomfortably wet, thick and sticky with some sort of liquid and when he looked down at his hands, they were covered in the glistening scarlet of blood.

Soon, he was not simply rushing to his repository after waking up, Nathalie’s questions when he ran past every morning becoming screams of terror, no, he was already awake, in the middle of the night he was the one tearing her limb from limb, tacking her to the window, snapping her in half, shattering all the lights, and eventually, he stopped waking in his room.

Now, he woke in the midst of destruction and decay.

Now, he woke surrounded by the bodies of several Emilies he personally destroyed, and he was covered in her remains, his ascot tie nothing like peppermint, his outlandish cream suit permanently stained a disgusting brown, his hair a ratty mess and always in his eyes, his glasses were long gone and yet he could still see the horrors he committed.

When would this end?

Despite the bodies surrounding him, there was still one Emilie in the pod, peacefully in eternal slumber, ignorant of the destruction he caused.

He couldn’t look at her anymore.

Couldn’t bare to see her body untouched, couldn’t bare to see the ones that surrounded him.

Finally, having enough, he clawed his own eyes out. 

He didn’t feel the pain.

Not anymore. 

What could be worse than experiencing tearing her apart? Seeing her dismantled?

In comparison to what he has done, this was nothing, just a dull ache in his mind.

Still, somehow, he continued to destroy the most beautiful thing in his world, the only light he had. He couldn’t see her, and yet he could feel as he ripped her flesh apart and held her organs, could hear the sound of her bones breaking apart and blood splashing to the floor, could smell the rotten stench of decay and iron.

The senses were branded to his mind, the feeling of her body abused in his hands seared to his skin.

His body continued on it’s own.

He couldn’t do it.

He couldn’t let himself do this.

Couldn’t let himself set her on fire, stab her over and over, leave her to rot.

So he scratched at himself.

He tore himself apart.

He knew he could, he’d done it so many times to her after all.

He broke his nose so that it only filled with his blood and not the scent of hers, pulled his ears off so he could not hear the wretched sound of her body and plugged the holes with pieces of his ascot tie, broke every one of his fingers, snapped his legs, gouged his stomach out. And when he could taste the rot and iron in the air, he cut his tongue out too.

And finally, finally, after destroying himself so many times, he stopped moving.

He heard nothing, saw nothing, smelled, tasted, felt nothing .

He simply sat there, and breathed, every inhale and exhale feeling like a punishment.

He should no longer be alive. After everything he’s done, he shouldn’t be allowed to lie here and live unlike his lovely Emilie.

Tears filled his unseeing eyes, black and red falling down his cheeks.

<◉>

Jack chuckled under her breath.

After stabbing Gabriel, she had pulled his soul from his body before it faded, and then torn the brooch from his chest, leaving him in a pile of his own blood.

Then she had created a small bird cage of the rotting vines she had used to stab the man and stuffed his soul in it.

She didn’t know what his nightmares were of, she just knew that it had taken only a few minutes before she felt his fire dim as he gave up and broke.

Good, he deserved it.

Man she loved the power that came with the Miraculous of Destruction. She could do so much with the powers and she finally got back at Hawkmoth and avenged her brother with it!

His soul would not find a place in her, so she tacked the small birdcage and broken soul onto a hook she grew at her hip.

His soul had to stay out here because she liked to make sure the souls she stole were relatively comfortable, then they wouldn’t fight her so much. Besides, there was no reason to hurt them, she just needed them to get Anthony back. She wouldn’t hurt innocents. She wouldn’t even leave the heroes in discomfort. They already paid the price for failing her the moment she stole them away.

Now she just had to create Anthony a new body. His was likely already rotten, and that was fine, because he’d need a new body if she wanted him to be able to keep up with her anyways. 

She’ll make it of her vines.

<◉>

Adrien, despite knowing he was dead, despite knowing he was nothing more than a blue flame, continued to wander. 

He wasn’t quite sure why, but he did.

He was searching for something.

That’s all he knew.

What he was searching for?

That was something he didn’t know.

It was important though.

And he needed to find it. 

He felt like it was something warm. Something safe. 

Was he in danger? He didn’t feel like he was, but he didn’t feel safe either.

He could not rest here, so he wandered, in search of whatever it was that he lost.

<◉>

Day came, but despite the light outside, Marinette knew the sun wouldn’t be there, even as she looked up at the glowing orb in the sky.

So she didn’t move.

Her parents had come and tried to talk to her, tried to get her to eat something, at least get a drink of water, but she would not move from the body of her sun.

Ink continued to flow from her face, but it did not stain anything aside from her and now, when it finally reached the ground, it would disappear in small puffs of smoke.

Marinette continued to hold Adrien’s cold hand. Around six in the morning, it had completely frozen and would not move. His body and Alya and Nino’s stayed stiff the rest of the day.

Despite that, despite being surrounded by corpses, she would not move.

It was almost as if she too had died and were it not for the inky tears and small movements of her chest, her parents would have thought maybe she had.

Her chest continued to ache. 

It was a familiar ache, one she recognized quite well having experienced it so much over the past five days, and so it wasn’t hard to place.

Somewhere out there, Adrien was still somehow hurting. 

His soul was hurting.

She felt the desperate need to find him, but she had no clue how she would do that.

Darkness fell upon the world once more.

In a last ditch attempt to get Marinette to react in any way other than how she had so far, her parents brought up a scrapbook that they had been working the entire month on for her and Adrien, so that, maybe later, when they looked back, they wouldn’t only see it as a terrible time in their lives and maybe, just possibly, see it in a better light and be thankful for any growth they gained after weathering through it all.

They looked sadly upon their daughter who was as emotionless as a doll aside from the constant stream of tears that disappeared the moment they hit the ground. They hoped this would work, that perhaps it would draw some sort of reaction from their despondent daughter.

“Sweetie,” Sabine took a step forward, scrapbook in hand, before kneeling in front of Marinette, “I want you to have this.” She set the baby pink scrapbook with accents of mint green in Marinette’s lap.

Her eyes fell to the book and Sabine moved back towards the trap door where Tom was. He pulled her into a side hug as they watched on.

Marinette wasn’t quite sure what it was that her parents had brought her, she didn’t hear them say much, and if she did, it was foggy, like she was hearing them speak from the outside of a room. Her vision was narrow and blurry, she was sure that her sclera must be as black as Adrien’s were when he cried so she thought it was reasonable that she couldn’t see very clearly. It was a relief of it’s own that she hadn’t cried her eyes away yet so she would take slightly blurry vision for now.
She looked at the book in dull curiosity, wondering what in the world her parents had brought her, when her eyes fell upon a black cat paw in the very middle of the cover. Her breath hitched at the familiar symbol and the way the mint and pink created simple, but beautiful patterns.

Slowly, with the one hand that wasn’t still in Adrien’s she opened the book.

The tears in her eyes became stronger but lost some of their depths, somehow seeming lighter than before. She could feel how her body ached now, properly feel herself, the way her leg stung with pins and needles from not having moved for so long, how her cuts and bruises protested for being forgotten for so long, but oddly enough, they didn’t hurt so much and she didn’t feel the pounding of her head that should have been and she gratefully suspected that it was due to Tikki.

Why could she feel again?

Because there, in the first page, was a picture of her and Adrien and Alya and Nino goofing off at the table as they played uno with their hoodies on. All of them were laughing and smiling. 

Marinette recognized this moment, remembered Adrien always asking for another round, another try.

She turned the page and more happy moments appeared before her. 

Sometimes one of her parents would be in the picture, or Alya and Nino because they had decided to visit, but there was always either her or Adrien in every single one.

Nino with his tongue out as he raced Adrien in Mario Kart, both of them moving their entire bodies as if that could somehow make them turn more.

A round of BS on the floor of the living room, Alya and Nino teasing Marinette.

Alya pleading Marinette to be careful as she put the orange and white hoodie into the wash.

Tom laughing as flour blasted from the blender because Adrien forgot to put the lid on.

All four of them fast asleep on the couches, snuggling one another, a movie going in the background.

Marinette quietly comforting Adrien as he cried into her shoulder.

Marinette hiding behind her hands with a bright red face as Sabine told Adrien all about what she was like when she was younger.

Adrien sitting before the bathroom door, looking every bit the lost kitten as he waited for Marinette to come out. 

Marinette wearing a camisole, looking over her shoulder to see if she could find more ink stains, Adrien looking just the slightest bit regretful as he pointed out the new ones.

Their first batch of brownies set on the table, Alya, Nino, Tom, and herself laughing as Adrien scrunched his face with distaste. Those had been the ones they’d burned a little.

The pictures went on and on.

Some were of the time during school.

Everyone in the class piled into the blanket fort. She wondered how her mother had gotten a picture of that and realized it must have been from Mlle Bustier.

Marinette working on and assignment as Adrien slept away in her lap, her hands in his hair.

Adrien curled protectively around Marinette in one of the pillow caves.

Marinette holding Adrien close out in the park.

There were so many pictures despite them only coming from just over a month’s worth of time, all of them such warm memories.

The last one before a series of blank pages had a picture of Adrien at the table, Marinette turned to Alya. He seemed to be scribbling something down as fast as he could, watching for Marinette so that she didn’t see him writing. She knew that must have been the case because she didn’t remember him writing anything at the table before.

On the next page was a small piece of paper with blue ink in Adrien’s neat penmanship.

“ Thank you so much for everything Marinette. It means an awful lot to me that I’ve been accepted here and it’s all thanks to your hard work. I’ve had such an amazing time being able to stay here. I heard Sabine talking about a scrapbook, so I’m writing this for that. You’re likely reading it now in that very same scrapbook. ” the lines started to shake a little, “ I’m a bit nervous, because even though I was so flamboyant with Ladybug, I’ve never fallen this hard before, so writing what I’m about to say is somehow making me a nervous wreck, but here I go.
I love you Marinette. 

I love you so much more than I ever thought was possible. 

You’ve always been kind and responsible to everyone, but you’ve given so much for me without asking anything in return and it’s incredible to see how strong you are. Just by watching you I feel as if I can do anything. You light up the world around you with ease and you always seem to have this gravity. 

You’re smart and beautiful too, you’re so amazing I feel like you’re way out of my league, but I swear to love you with all my heart. Would you please give me yours as well ?” 

Marinette was hiccupping now, her tears all clear, and she gently pulled her hand from Adrien’s cold one, bringing the scrapbook close to her chest. 

Small giggles spilled unbidden from her lips as she continued to cry. 

Silly silly Chaton, he already had her heart. It was incredible that he thought she was out of his league.

She looked at her parents, a small smile on her lips even as more tears continued to come forth, these ones disappearing into small sparks before they could even hit the ground, floating up to the sky, reilluminating the dark night. 

“Thank you.”

Love overflowed from Marinette’s heart.

I love him , she thinks. I love him so much. 

And it’s not hard to be swept off her feet. 

She blinks because the room around her has disappeared and the scrapbook falls from her arms and vanishes.

She’s falling now but she doesn’t know where she’s falling to because nothing’s here, there’s nothing around her, but she reaches out and grasps for something anyways. She thinks of his hands, larger than her own, and far warmer too, they keep her from freezing in the winter. She thinks of his hair, it’s soft, golden craziness and how when he has those black cat ears on, it refuses to be tamed, and it shouldn’t be, because it’s like locks of the very sun. She thinks of his chest, broad and lanky, but always there for her to lean on and be protected. She thinks of his legs that always find her, always come running to anyone’s rescue and especially hers. Finally she thinks of his eyes, green and beautiful like emeralds glistening in soft light whenever their gaze is on her, the pupils dilating and pricking when he’s her Chaton . The eyes that shine even with tears of black night. 

She thinks of all those pictures in the scrapbook, thinks of everything that’s happened within the past month or so and all those happy memories she shared with him and Alya and Nino despite the terrible things they were going through.

Then it’s like it was in the beginning of all this madness, she can hear his heart. 

She’s still not sure where she is, still not sure where he is, but she can hear it, and she grabs onto the made connection and pulls and suddenly she’s standing behind Jack in some sort of grove, her suit on despite not remembering when she could possibly have called for her transformation, and despite all the flames Jack holds, Ladybug knows which one is hers. 

She reaches out, carefully, and the blue flame warms her with acknowledgement. 

It travels up her arm, dancing as if in celebration of having been retrieved, and then it dives into her chest, causing it to glow with a cool blue light. 

Feeling something pull from within, one of the strongest sources of power she has leaving her, Jack turned around and was surprised, because there was Ladybug and she didn’t know when the heroine had arrived. Then she realized what exactly had just happened.

Jack is staring at her in shock and awe now, because that shouldn’t be able to happen and yet it just did. She can’t even begin to think more on how one of the strongest souls in her arsenal was just stolen she’s just that surprised. 

Ladybug’s body felt strange. Not bad, but weird, and when she looked down, she found her torso similar to Jack’s, a lantern of sorts, her middle transparent like glass or bubbles, and her new suit is changing once again, her torso that looked as if it had been placed in a corset before now had panels here and there of the glassy material. What had been black before was now cold metal. 

Honestly, her torso looked like a wrought iron lantern.

More blue flames jump within Jack, eager to run to this new lantern, especially a specific two that Ladybug recognized quite well.

Ladybug stretched her hand forward again, bringing it close to Jack and Alya and Nino leap from the lantern of roots, running up Ladybug’s arm and finding a place near Adrien.

Excited by this new development, more blue flames leapt for Ladybug’s outstretched and welcoming arms. Even if they had been comfortable with Jack, there was always something slightly off, leaving the souls the slightest bit uneasy, because even though it was relatively comfortable, they didn’t feel as if they’d been properly cared for.

Jack’s lantern felt cold and dark, it felt like being lost, but Ladybug’s lantern felt warm and safe, familiar and like a warmly lit home in the middle of a dank and foreboding forest or a lighthouse after being out in the stormy sea, waves threatening to break you at any moment.

With Ladybug, they were sure they would be able to rest, sure that they would be protected, not used.

They leapt one after the other, rushing into Ladybug and filling her with strength she’d never felt before. They moved so fast that Jack couldn’t pull away quick enough, leaving her with only a few souls that cried desperately to be free and the pain from their pleas stabbed into Jack viciously, but she wouldn’t let them go, no, she needed them. They couldn’t leave her. Roots grew within her and wrapped tightly around the souls left, not allowing them to move a single bit.

She still had the Miraculous of Destruction and Transmission, she could beat Ladybug and get her souls back. Plus, though she was reluctant to use the disgusting thing, she still had Gabriel too. He had as much power as Rena or Carapace and with how broken he is, she could likely bend him easily, use him for all he’s worth.

Jack-o-lantern glared at Ladybug.

They, the fires that could not exist without a vassal, chose Ladybug and they stayed within her lantern, casting a new and strange warmth within her, but Adrien stayed beside her heart, hidden there where he couldn’t be seen, and nobody dared encroach.

<◉>

Adrien had been wandering for so long now. He felt so tired, but he couldn’t stop, not until he found what he had lost. It wasn’t safe, he couldn’t rest.

He came across two familiar flames, one giving him the feeling of spice, the other one chill like cool water from a bubbling stream. They were huddled close together, but when he reached them, they drew to him too.

Words filled his mind.

She’s coming.

She’ll save us.

If anyone can do it, she can.

He wasn’t quite sure of their meaning, but he had a feeling that it had to do with what he had lost.

These people knew what he was looking for.

It’d be best to stay with them then.

But he could not deny the need to wander, so he pulled them along on his journey. They did not protest.

Finally, after a great amount of time, he felt something pull on him. It was familiar and safe, it was warm and important. Something was coming. Something wanted him, and he was sure he wanted it too, so he pulled back, drawing them closer and closer until finally…

Warmth and happiness flared through him, he knows her! This is what he was looking for! It was her! He knew that if he had a proper face, his cheeks would hurt with how much he was smiling.

He reached for the hand of the one he knew, the one who loved him and he loved back, the one that held the world on her shoulders and always welcomed him.

He recognized the marks he had left on her, the ones she accepted despite his attempts to stop them. He recognized the black that wrapped gently around her heart and buried himself there, the closest he could get to her. 

He felt Alya and Nino leap after him, joining him as they rejoiced and were followed by everyone else.

Alya and Nino didn’t near his beloved’s heart like he had, as that was his place, but they stayed close, still as huddled together as two flames could be. 

The new lantern was filled with noise, the soft chatter of voices as the flames talked amongst themselves. The very opposite of the echoing darkness of the previous lantern. They loved it here, it was far nicer than Jack’s. Here they were safe, and they started to settle down.

They could rest here, and eventually they could go home. Everyone offered Ladybug their strength, the strength that had been forcefully taken from them by Jack and had been misused. Ladybug would use it properly, would use their strength for them and their happiness. 

Then the rest of their friends, the ones that couldn’t leave Jack in time, could join them as well.

<◉>

Plagg wasn’t sure what was going on outside but he knew he didn’t like it. 

His kitten had transformed like normal.

He knew Adrien was struggling a little but he’s struggled plenty of times before and in the end was always able to beat the new enemy.

Except… this time he didn’t.

Plagg felt the terribly familiar feeling of his kid slipping away, his life leaving him, their bond breaking. 

He panicked.

Nonononono, Adrien couldn’t die here! Not now! Not for several more decades and if he’s lucky enough, maybe not ever! 

Out of every one of his charges, he’d never had someone as amazing as Adrien, never had someone be able to connect to his energy so well, and likely never would again. If he was lucky, Adrien wouldn’t have to leave, wouldn’t have to die, and would truly become his incarnate, his permanent one that he’d been waiting millenia for.

He had to do something to save the kid. He wasn’t sure what, he’d always felt this way when one of his charges was fading but no matter how many times he experienced the devastating pain he felt when they were gone, he’d never once been able to change anything.

Before he could think of something, his charge’s light was gone, just like all those many times before, and the sadness, the guilt, the grief, the pain, it swallowed him whole and left him immobilized. He’d gone through this with Adrien before when he burned to death, that time he’d gone with Adrien, his ring being destroyed in the flames, and his kid had died several other times before but it never felt… permanent like this. However, this time, it was far worse than before, far worse than he’d ever felt and he was sure that when he finally pulled himself together enough to pull himself out of the Miraculous, instead of going back to the Guardian, he was going to completely destroy the world. It wouldn’t just be one city like with Atlantis, it’d be the whole damn earth, because nobody was going to take his kitten away from him, not this time, not ever again, and he didn’t care if his sugarcube was upset with him later, she could make another world if she wanted one so badly, though he doubted she’d be any less upset to lose her own charge this time either.

These two were the best users they’d ever had and Tikki knew as well as he did that there wouldn’t be anyone better out there after this.
Tikki had been so excited with how easily Marinette had accessed her powers in the past month, especially when she wasn’t using them because the girl was sad.

Just as fast as the pain came did it recede as he felt himself pulled from his kid’s body and placed against another, but within this body, Adrien was there. 

Adrien was still here.

He wasn’t quite dead yet.

Plagg felt around, noticing that despite all the souls, none of them were Pigtails, which meant she could come save his kitten.

He just had to be patient.

He could do that. 

He was a kwami after all, he’s had to be far more patient than he ever really liked.

So he hunkered down and waited, but then his connection to Adrien was being abused. 

Someone not Adrien was using his powers through the mere fact that Adrien’s soul resided in their body and Plagg didn’t really like it. It left him feeling unclean and disgusting.

It made him want to lick himself clean and he wasn’t even a proper cat, but that would be even grosser because then the disgusting feeling would be on his tongue, the precious organ he uses to taste his delectable camembert! So maybe he’d jump into the shower with his kid when they finally get home. Then he’ll rub himself all over Adrien’s clothes.

Plagg nodded, that was a good plan.

He felt another tug at his powers and felt gross all over again, squirming in his ring with the strong desire to scratch at something.

He prayed Tikki’s bug was quick because he wasn’t sure how much more he could handle being used like this.

Despite his hope that Pigtails would come soon, he was left to sit in his ring for far longer than he appreciated. He didn’t even stay in his ring this long when he was in the Miracle Box! He could always hang out with all the others instead! But he was stuck in here all alone and it sucked, even if whoever was using him had stopped since the first two times.

He still felt kinda gross, like hands had touched him all over and it was very unpleasant. He was starting to understand how his kid was feeling when he talked about the more annoying female models and fans.

Plagg wondered how much longer he’d have to be stuck in here when Adrien’s soul was gone. It had been there moments before and now it was gone.

Plagg was about to start panicking again when he could feel his kitten’s soul flickering just a bit away from where he was, which meant that Pigtails finally came to save them!

In other words, he didn’t have to stay in here! Now that Adrien was gone, nothing was tying him down here.

Tiredly, he vacated his ring.

He was a lot more exhausted than he thought but he supposed when you went on an emotional rollercoaster like the one he’d been on with Adrien dying suddenly and then having his powers used when he didn’t want them to be, you ought to be tired.

<◉>

Ladybug could feel the way the souls shifted and settled within her.

It was a funny feeling for sure, but she didn’t mind it because as each one settled, a buzz of strength filled her veins, promising that she would be able to save everyone else too.

Her heart felt full with Adrien there beside it. 

She’d finally gotten him back.

Her thoughts on her new form and powers were disrupted when there was a dull flash of green and a blur of grey shot out of Jack’s chest, zooming straight for Ladybug.

She caught the small thing after it bounced off her own chest before it could fall to the ground, not sure if she knew what it was that just came after her as what she thinks it might be is supposed to be black.

In her hands was exactly what she expected it to be, but she started to worry, because though Plagg had just come out of the ring, he was entirely grey, even his green eyes. He shivered a little in her hand before looking up at her. 

He brought his paws to his face and his small face twisted in disgust. “Blegh.” he said and shivered again. “Gross. So, so gross.” 

Then he looked back up again and met Ladybug’s eyes before looking towards the glow beside her heart. He floated tiredly to it and nuzzled the spot of blue that seeped through her skin, knowing his kit was in there.

Plagg could feel the marks of ink hidden behind the suit created by Tikki and was drawn to them. He stuck close to Pigtails’s heart but decide to perch on her shoulder so he wouldn’t have to float when he barely had the power to do so. He nuzzled the marks his kid had left on her, the marks she accepted, and felt some of his power return to him. Just a little. 

It felt incredibly nice to be with not only his kid, but Tikki and her bug. It was so much nicer than being stuck in that stupid akuma, and so he couldn’t help himself when he curled up contentedly in the crook of Ladybug’s neck. 

Creation moved about him, wrapping him up a little, and Plagg didn’t feel the need to go get rid of the feeling of being touched without his consent, because being with Tikki was a lot better than taking a shower and washing it all away.

The feel of Plagg purring against her neck made Marinette’s heart stutter in a way as it reminded her of her own kitty, the one beside her heart. Ladybug could feel the magic of Creation that covered her move again and when she lifted her hand to touch where Plagg was, her fingers met her hair. It had grown a bit longer than before, and enveloped the small God of Destruction. 

Ladybug was absolutely sure that the hair would not move during battle though she didn’t know why she was so positive about it. For now though, she needed to get the kwami’s ring back, retrieve the rest of the souls, and purify the akuma.

Ladybug gathered her bearings and checked on her current situation.

She had previously thought she was in a grove but on second look, she found herself in a greenhouse, pleasantly lit by the lights outside it’s fogged glass. Jack was hunching away from her, her mouth cut open and snarling at her, unhappy that not only were her souls taken from her, but so was the power of destruction. She had one hand on a small, grey bird cage of roots and the other closed in a fist around something.

Behind her, a green body similar to Jack’s but larger and masculine sitting on a table, slumped just a little and half incomplete. 

Though it seemed to be of great importance to Jack-o-lantern, she wasn’t extremely protective of it.

Jack wasn’t stupid, she knew she was a lot weaker and having something to defend was a weakness that was just asking to be used against her. Besides, Anthony’s new body didn’t have any life to it, it was just a body, and if she had to, she could abandon it so long as she could live another day. Besides, if she escaped at the expense of the unfinished body, she could somehow make another one eventually, she just had to get more souls.

To get away from Ladybug now though, she needed some more energy, she needed some of those souls back.

Jack-o-lantern charged, bringing her fist up to punch Ladybug in the gut and get a hand in her lantern, but when she finally hit the glass, her fist bounced off harmlessly, her fingers stinging. 

Damn glass.

Ladybug had startled when Jack rushed her which was stupid because she was supposed to be paying attention to the enemy so she chided herself and braced for impact only to feel none.

When she looked down for the reason why, she remembered, oh yeah, I’m a lantern now and found great pleasure in the fact that she no longer had organs that could be used against her and her glass was strong enough to keep Jack away and the souls safe. 

Jack was about to jump away when Ladybug realized that she was close, close enough that she could possibly tear the ring from Jack’s chest.

She’d barely even thought to do the action when her hand shot out and with an unnatural speed and ease, swiftly stole Adrien’s ring away.

When she looked down at her hands again, she’d already slid the white ring on. 

Jack had yet to notice when she landed a few feet back but Ladybug didn’t care for she was staring at her hand in awe.

She’d never felt so in control of herself before. Her skin felt so perfect on her, as if before, it wasn’t on quite right. 

Her body moved like a well oiled machine, answering instinctively before her thoughts or plans ever became truly conscious. 

She stretched and flexed her fingers in raw amazement. Is this what it’s like having so much power? 

It was a nice feeling of course, but she made sure to not abuse it, it was only because of those souls she was protecting and Tikki’s power that she was able to do this and so she was grateful. She would not dare abuse what she was gifted.

When Jack landed on her feet, she began to freak out. 

Crap crap crap, holy freaking crap, she’s got the souls now so she’s stupidly strong and she somehow grabbed the freaking Miraculous! She needed to get out of here, to run and get more power because there was no way she was going to be able to fight against the heroine now. 

With a final, regretful glance at the half finished body of Anthony, she burst through the greenhouse, shattering one of ceiling’s panels.

Ladybug looked up and realized what the akuma was planning. Within quarter seconds, she too was launching out of the greenhouse, through Jack’s hole so she didn’t make another, and was hopping the rooves after the akuma.

Jack looked back frightened before turning around, looking for places with lights so that she could go in and get more power but most of the lights in the area were off so she didn’t know if they were because there were no longer people alive in there or if maybe they’d gone to bed already.

A yoyo swung out to hit Jack and she was only barely able to dodge before finally dropping down into a lit house and stealing the residents’ souls. 

More strength filled Jack and she sighed in relief, but then she felt a bunch of souls approaching where she was at in an easy pace and new that Ladybug was coming.

Quickly, she jumped out the window and back into the night and was almost immediately faced with Ladybug, who was looking at her with a very unimpressed look.

Jack bit back the injustice and rage welling in her. 

What was she supposed to do?! This was her power! 

She didn’t like taking the lives of so many people but she knew you always had to pay a price for what you do and it just so happened that this was hers! 

She didn’t care if she had to deal with these sins weighing on her back, so long as Anthony came back. Nothing else mattered. She just wanted Anthony back.

Then there was her! 

Her with her power and justice and ability to get back what she wanted! Here she was happy when she hadn’t even been able to bring Anthony back!

She resisted growling, she resisted the tears that built, she would not give her the satisfaction.

They were launched into a battle.

Ladybug with her yoyo and speed, her reflexes and strength.

Jack-o-lantern with her vines and roots.

Jack had always been fast, but without as much souls backing her, she was slower, and now Ladybug had that power, that speed, that strength.

It was so unfair!

Why couldn’t Jack get back what she had lost?

Why was it the only goody two shoes heroes?

Despite the ball of negativity growing, Jack fought, even as she knew and understood that she couldn’t win, she still fought, because what else was she to do?

Jack desperately pulled roots from the ground, grew several whips, and aimed for Ladybug, but Ladybug was dancing through the thorns, totally unfazed by the chaos around her, but she didn’t near Jack, not yet.

A pit had formed in Ladybug’s currently nonexistent stomach and her chest ached as she watched the akumatized girl before her.

She didn’t understand why, but the girl was familiar and was desperate, incredibly desperate. She wanted to know why that was. What kind of incentive could she have to make her go this far? To cause her the anguish she was desperately trying to hide?

Jack was slowing, getting tired as Ladybug constantly evaded. More and more roots were hit away and didn’t get back up, just laying limply from where they connected to the ground. Still, Ladybug did not get closer.

She didn’t know what would happen if she tried and she didn’t even know where the akuma was.

In her desperation, Jack looked to Gabriel Agreste’s soul where it still sat broken in it’s cage at her side, and for a moment, just a moment, she wanted to use it, to use the bastard till he disappeared, to bend him and use him for everything that he was, but then she realized with a start, that this wasn’t her. This wasn’t she wanted. She’d already gotten revenge, all she wanted now was to get Anthony back, not make others suffer. She didn’t want to become a monster.

Finally, Jack fell to her knees, her few remaining roots and vines falling with her, tears slipping from her eyes that were closed in frustration and defeat. She wept at being unable to do as she had wished, being unable to bring back Anthony after all she’d done.

Ladybug was wary at first, but when the tears fell, some catching in the holes of Jack’s cheeks, and she saw just how frustrated, how upset the akuma was, she neared.

Jack-o-lantern did nothing, even when Ladybug was standing before her. Really, she couldn’t do anything even if she had wanted to, she was powerless before the incarnate of creation.

She slammed her fist against the roof below her, “ Damn it! ” She shouted.

Her breath came in hiccuping stutters that showed through in her voice and Jack made no attempt to hide them. “Why?” She brought her hands up to look at them, cut and bruised, blue seeping out in drops instead of blood, one of her leaves were completely torn off. “Why can’t I do it? Why can’t I beat you and bring him back?” 

“Bring who back?” Ladybug questioned softly.

Jack looked up at her with the most defeated look, “My brother.”

Ladybug didn’t really know what to say, she now knew Jack’s motivations, but still hadn’t a clue on how to help. After all, she could only on special occasion bring back the dead and that was always when they were caught in an attack and seeing how Jack was still mourning over him, the boy was not killed in an attack.

Without words, without anything to say, she simply kneeled down and put a hand on Jack’s shoulder.

Jack brought her cut hands to her face and cried into them. Blue glowing tears fell from her eyes, each one seeped into Ladybug when they touched her arm. They too seemed to hold the strength of souls. Ladybug could feel the glow within her grow as she absorbed the tears.

“I’m sorry.” Jack sobbed out. “I’m so sorry!”

“What are you sorry for?” There were lots of things she could be apologizing for.

“I’m sor-sorry for t-taking hi-him, for hur-hurting you b-both. It’s- its just that I was-was bit-bit-ter. Because if he had d-died only s-seconds la-later, he might have li-lived.” It was such a paradoxical statement that it stuck out. And then the familiarity made sense.

“Twenty Die.” She breathed without meaning to and Jack looked up with hurt eyes, “So you know then.”
Ladybug nodded numbly. She had glanced over the smaller news channels and had seen the coverage of a boy who died while attempting to help the girl who was akumatized into Twenty Die. The terrible reporters had pushed and pushed to have an interview with the boy’s friend, going as far as trailing the poor girl despite how harshly she was taking the death. Neither the boy’s name or his friend’s was ever released, but Ladybug remembered Jaquelyn from her glimpse. 

She had been dismayed to know what happened.

“I’m so sorry.” Ladybug was now the one apologizing, “I wish it hadn’t happened, I wish that my powers had worked on him too.” After hearing of the story, anybody hurt as someone was being akumatized was included in her Miracle Cure, but it was a terrible thing that it had taken someone’s death to bring that about.

Jack glanced at her, and sniffed, turning away, as if not accepting the apology which was completely reasonable, but then her petals wilted a little and she looked back down at her lap. “I know it’s not your fault. It’s all that bastard’s-” she spit, then sighed, “I tried not to hold it against you, but it was still so unfair.” Ladybug nodded.

“That’s reasonable, when you’re hurt, it’s hard to not blame someone.” At her words, Jack’s head whipped up to look at Ladybug, eyes searching for something. She laughed a little in disbelief, the sound a bit broken, when she found only sincerity. “I just did all that crap, hurting you and killing all those people, and tell you that you might be a small factor to it and you just say it’s reasonable. Unbelievable.” She huffed.

“Well you’re not wrong in being upset and everyone is entitled to a little time in which they can just be mad at the world so long as you eventually get up, but that doesn’t mean it has to be immediately. It’s not like you can just drop the entire matter and go back to your daily life. Not when they were so important to you.” Ladybug explained. She knew quite well the pain of watching someone die before you. He had even lived after that and she was still so broken from it. 

Jack turned back to her hands, “I’m still sorry.” 

Ladybug nodded with a smile, “Good, that means you have a good head about you if you feel bad after doing what you did.” Jack laughed a little at that.

Ladybug offered the akuma a hand up. Jack looked at it, and only after a moment of hesitation, took it.

Once she was up, Jack brushed off her skirt, then sighed. “Well, I suppose it’s time to let these powers go and have you purify me.” The roots inside her released the souls she’d managed to keep and take, they eagerly jumped from her to Ladybug.

Jack then bowed her head so that Ladybug’s vision was filled with chrysanthemum petals. “It’s inside,” she said, “The akuma.”

Ladybug hesitantly reached into the petals. Her fingers brushed against something solid and cool and so she grabbed it.

When she brought it out, she was confused, because in her hand was a silver chrysanthemum pendant on a thin silver chain. Jack laughed at her bewilderment and smiled at the item.

“He was originally British you see, and in Britain, the chrysanthemum has a very different meaning. There, they do not symbolize death, but rather happiness and longevity. Quite the opposite to us, don’t you think? Anyways,” she nodded at the pendant, “that one there is supposed to be a white chrysanthemum. It means loyalty and devoted love.” She looked up at Ladybug with a saddened smile, “It was his promise to stay friends forever. I placed it in a pot of yellow chrysanthemums and brought it to his grave yesterday. Yellow cause he left me here and broke our promise. Yellow means sorrow and neglected love if you were wondering. Though it wasn’t really his fault he broke it though. ” She muttered that last bit.

Jack was no longer looking at her, instead gazing off into the distance.

Ladybug stared at the beautiful pendant in her hand. 

She didn’t want to break it.

But she had to to purify the akuma and it’d come back afterward.

Just as she was about to smash it in her hands, Jack spoke again.

“Oh right, I forgot about this.” When Ladybug looked up, she was handed a small birdcage with a blue flame that flickered dimly and a purple brooch with four grey points that she recognized instantly. “Left the bastard dead in a puddle of his own blood.”

She looked up shocked, “Who was he?”

Jack spat before muttering, “Gabriel Agreste.”
Ladybug tried very hard to fight the grim satisfaction that came with that knowledge. He got what was coming for him. Really, she shouldn’t be holding such a grudge, but she couldn’t help it knowing how terrible he was and her lips quirked up a little despite her fighting them. She honestly wanted to tear into him herself so to hear that he was punished felt a terrible satisfaction. It seemed Plagg shared the same thought as her and purred against her neck in pleasure.

Jack pointed at the soul, “The cage gave him some sort of nightmare. Don’t know what it was, but he was cowed within minutes so it must’ve been bad.”

Ladybug nodded.

Jack thought a bit more before saying, “Alright, that’s about it I think.”

Ladybug crushed the chrysanthemum pendant with no small amount of regret. The akuma appeared as Jack’s form started to fall away in bubbles that were, surprisingly, white and not the normal deep purple. 

Ladybug caught the akuma, but before she opened her yoyo again, she turned to Jack.

“What was his name?”

Jack-o-lantern smiled one final smile before she disappeared. “Anthony. Anthony, because he was priceless.”

The light faded, leaving only the form of a girl in her early twenties, possibly 20 or 21, with bob length maple brown hair. 

The girl was about to fall over, having yet to open her eyes, when Ladybug caught her.

Jaquelyn, it appeared, was too tired to do much else but pass out after losing her powers.

Ladybug released the akuma and watched as it flew away to wherever they always went and was about to throw her yoyo into the air when she felt something thrum within her other hand, the one that still held the remains of the chrysanthemum pendant and Jaquelyn.

She looked down at what was making the sensation and saw that from the remains there was a blue glow.

It shined briefly before slipping into Ladybug’s skin.

She felt it travel through her arm and to her lantern and felt more strength within.

Ladybug blinked in curiosity.

She thought she’d grabbed all the souls aside from Gabriel’s. 

Then words echoed in her mind, the voice familiar.

Adrien.

“What is it? What’s wrong Adrien?” she breathed.

“It’s Anthony.”

Suddenly it felt as if her heart was in her throat.

“That was Anthony?” she asked, somewhat afraid of the answer.

“Yes.”

All her breath left her in a whoosh. What was she to do now? All the souls had bodies to go back to once she cast the cure.

“He said that he kept his promise.”

Ladybug found that she now wanted to cry. Anthony hadn’t left. He’d stayed with Jaquelyn the entire time.

She had to fix this. Had to set things right, but how? There is always an exchange when using powers.

Not this time.  

Tikki’s voice echoed through her mind. She felt Plagg shudder against her and somehow knew that he’d heard her too.

“Why?”

There was hesitance, as if Tikki wasn’t sure she wanted to say.

Plagg grumbled. “Just say it sugarcube.”

Tikki sighed in exasperation but Ladybug could still feel the fondness that radiated from her.

One: the actions of Hawkmoth have always been an exchange for bringing back those who have died and fixing the destruction left, so he should be able to come back as he only died due to trying to help a girl when she was being akumatized and not for natural reasons. Otherwise, everyone who died, everything that was destroyed, wouldn’t have been fixed.

Ladybug had never actually thought about it before. She was using the powers of the gods and such things always had an exchange, and yet she’d never had to deal with it before. It now made a lot of sense. So why had Tikki said “one?”

Two: you are currently the temporary incarnate of creation, however, you have the ability to become more. You have the ability to become the permanent incarnate. 

Ladybug straightened at that. She’d never heard of such a thing before.

What that entails is that I will leave the Miraculous and reside within you, ridding you of your humanity and giving me the ability to exist in a proper body. Basically you split your humanity with me and I share my deity with you. You didn’t need such a reason to help Anthony this time, however had it been a normal death, if you truly wanted, you could use the powers of creation, but Plagg would have had to create a proper amount of bad luck to spread across the city so that no one person took the brunt of it in order to counter the use of creation. 

Ladybug considered the information. It sounded amazing and all as she never really wanted to part with Tikki nor did she want to leave the mini goddess behind, but why was Tikki telling her this now? She asked.

Adrien died just yesterday, and you’ve been closely followed by death’s hand this past month. I felt it was relevant. 

Tikki didn’t mention how she too worried over losing Marinette within the past 24 hours, but Ladybug understood.

“So, what would happen regarding my humanity?” She asked.

What do you mean?

“Well if I lose my humanity, do I stop aging? Continue aging but stop at some point? Would I end up outliving my parents?”

Tikki was strangely quiet for a moment or two before stating, I am not quite sure myself, but for your convenience, I believe you will still grow now, however, if you become my incarnate later, when you’ve finished maturing, you will not age any further.

She did not answer her last question, so Ladybug assumed the answer. It was rather quite obvious, she was always bound to outlive them should she not fall to an accident or something, but that also meant that she would outlive everyone else around her and she should have expected that.

  After a moment of silence as Tikki let that sink in, she spoke. Adrien also has this choice with Plagg.

Somehow, the thought that if she did choose to become the proper incarnate, which she felt that she most likely would, she would not be alone nor would she outlive Adrien. That would devastate her and the past month or so was a testament to that.

“I’d have to think about it.” Adrien responded from within.

“Take your time,” Plagg said, “As long as you’re not running out of it or at death’s door.”

A spike of guilt pierced Ladybug’s heart that she assumed was from Adrien and by the way Plagg tensed, he felt it too and seemed to realize the implications of what he said.

Because he tensed, Ladybug decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and think that he had not meant to possibly guilt trip Adrien into choosing celestial glory.

“It’s alright kid,” he was quick to assure, “You’ve got time, I’ve got time, you can afford to wait before you make a decision.”

Ladybug felt understanding from within and she couldn’t help but wonder how the heck he was doing that. Probably because his soul was within her, but then why didn’t she feel any of the others’ emotions?

The souls began to shift in their places from within her and she remembered that, “oh yeah, haven’t cast Miraculous Cure yet.”

She stuck the Butterfly Miraculous on as she had nowhere else to put it, and slipped the bird cage onto a small piece of metal that curled out from her lantern, imitating Jack-o-lantern’s way of keeping it, to clear her hands.

Quickly she threw her yoyo to the sky, “Miraculous Ladybug!” 

The world was full of pink and red light as ladybugs swept across the city of Paris before coming back and accumulating into a ball of brilliance.

The light flashed outwards in a burst and Ladybug only had a few moments to react before a body was falling from the sky where the light had been.

She dashed forward, fixed necklace and Jaquelyn in one arm, the other outstretched to catch the boy with caramel hair.

Ladybug sighed in relief when she was able to get to him in time. 

The boy -Anthony, she assumed- was wearing a grey hoodie and jeans, and looked to be quite a bit taller than her, taller than even Nino and he was the tallest in her friend group. Despite being a large young man, Ladybug had no problem with carrying him and silently thanked her super strength once again.

Anthony was warm and breathing, so that was a relief, that meant her powers had worked.

Now, she just had to get these two back to their homes and head to her own before Adrien woke up.

She didn’t know where Jaquelyn and Anthony lived, but then something came to mind and somehow she knew the address.

Ladybug didn’t question it in her rush. 

It was only when she arrived at a singular apartment did she actually stop to think how the heck she knew where they lived and that they lived in the same apartment.

Something stirred within and she looked down, belatedly realizing that she had yet to stop being a lantern and still had many, many souls within her. 

Ladybug almost dropped Jaquelyn and Anthony in her surprise, but somehow managed to pull herself together enough to realize that she needed to get them inside before she starts worrying about what to do.

 She slid the balcony door open and propped the two friends up on their couch in what looked to be a living room with a kitchen and dining table.

Now that she no longer had humans in hand, her arms started to flail as she freaked out. 

“HOly CrAP! I still have the souls! Why do I still have the souls????? I cast the Miraculous Cure!”
She continued to screech although a bit quieter than usual so as to not disrupt the neighbors until a familiar voice bubbled up from within her, “Calm down, Marinette, just think for a second. I’m sure there’s a reason.”

Ladybug took a few breaths in to calm herself, “Yeah, okay, I’m calm now, but why didn’t the cure work?”

“Well, it did work seeing as how Anthony’s body is alive though he is still not in it, that’s likely true for everyone else as well. I think you just need to open the door so everyone can leave.”

“Door?” Ladybug looked down at herself and for the first time noticed that the front panel had hinges and a latch. “Oh.”

Ladybug brought her fingers to the latch, “Alright, let’s try it.”

She walked back to the balcony and stepped out before opening the small panel.

In a rush, all the souls poured from her and flew off to their respective bodies, resembling her Miraculous Cure in the way the blue flames moved and fluctuated above the city.

Only four souls were left when Ladybug looked back down at herself.

Adrien, Alya, Nino, and Anthony, her mind clarified, and she realized that she had somehow just taken inventory of souls.

She still couldn’t quite believe everything that had happened within the past 24 hours. 

With a tired sigh, she went back into the apartment, not bothering to shut her now open lantern, because why bother if they’re the ones that decided to stay inside?

She neared Anthony’s body and yet he floated somewhat hesitantly just before the door, as if he wasn’t sure if he could go.

“This isn’t a dream right?” a new voice whispered, a tenor with a slight husk like he hadn’t spoken in a very long time. Ladybug knows it must be Anthony.

A chorus of denials that no, this is not a dream, rise up from her friends and it is such a wonderful thing to hear them all. She wonders if perhaps she can hear them now that the cacophony of other voices have gone. 

Slowly, Anthony floats from Ladybug and sinks into his own chest. His breath hitches and his body shudders at the new heaviness of once again being inhabited. He does not wake however, too tired to do such a thing just yet.

So Ladybug places the chrysanthemum necklace against Jaquelyn’s neck and writes a note to the two should Anthony no longer remember what happened. She wasn’t sure if Jaquelyn would, it was possible as she was a highly unusual akuma, but it was highly unlikely.

She gave a brief explanation over what happened to Jaquelyn and how come Anthony was alive again. She left a lot out of course, merely saying that he came back when she used the Cure this time.

She shut the door to her lantern and was off. Now that she knew Adrien, Alya, and Nino wouldn’t wake up while she was gone, same with Gabriel, she went in search of his dead body.

Though it took some time, Ladybug finally came across a blur of white on a random rooftop, a now warm body lying in a heap. There was no sign of what Jack might have done to him and she felt just a little curious but felt it was best she didn’t know.

She was right thinking that in hindsight, but at that moment, Ladybug was wondering how she was going to turn the man in since he wasn’t defeated publicly. She may have a lot of authority and influence, but she still doubted that just her word would be enough to name him Hawkmoth to the masses.

There was also the social drawbacks for Adrien. It would likely help if they brought his abuse to the table but how could they do that? There was no true evidence aside from words. 

“Cameras.”  

Oh. 

The Agreste Manor was full of security cameras.

Yeah that’d work well.

They’d likely also find his lair so that would work too.

Ladybug neared the man’s prone form, bird cage in hand.

She readied her yoyo and opened the small thing. The soul floated out slowly and stopped at one point near Gabriel’s chest for a moment before sinking into the skin.

Gabriel’s eyes slowly fluttered open and Ladybug prepared to fight him, but he didn’t move for a few moments like she thought he would. 

Gabriel didn’t quite know what was happening, but when he saw the dark sky speckled with lights above him and heard the shuffle of feet and breath near him, he realized with great horror that he could see . He could hear . 

No, he didn’t wanna see. He didn’t wanna hear, because that meant destroying Emilie. He didn’t want that.

He didn’t want to do any of that.

Suddenly, Gabriel’s hands raised up and Ladybug thought perhaps he was finally making his move, only for him to start clawing at his eyes in great panic. 

He started to scream but it was not from pain, instead he cried out, “No! No! Don’t make me do that! No! I don’t want to see it again!”

Hastily, Ladybug lunged at the broken man before her and straddled him, holding his hands from his face before he could do more damage than scratching away at the skin like permanently ruining his eyes.

He screamed at her in protest, eyes filled with tears and suddenly she was feeling really bad for that vindictive pleasure and satisfaction earlier. She could feel how Adrien recoiled in response to how his father was acting. He may not have liked the man, but he certainly hadn’t wanted this.
“Don’t look.” she pleaded, and hoped that somehow Adrien could stop seeing it.

Gabriel struggled weakly against her but could do nothing when she was not only in a magic suit but also still had three people empowering her and heavens how she was grateful for them despite how terrible it was that they had to see this too because Ladybug felt that she would have had a very hard time mentally dealing with this without them there.

Gabriel soon became limp beneath her, gaze void of any life or light, but still she did not get up for fear that perhaps it was a ruse.

His lips moved and formed words over and over that were too quiet for her to hear. 

Warily, she leaned down to hear him properly.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry. Please don’t make me go back there. Please don’t make me do that again. Please, please, I am so sorry.” He muttered the same things over and over again mindlessly, causing Ladybug to look back at the birdcage in fear and terror.

Slowly, testing his reaction, Ladybug got off him. He still didn’t move.

Not until she was completely off at least.

His eyes shot to the edge of the roof with a frenzied gleam and he quickly scrambled up, running for the drop.

Shock ran through Ladybug but it did not slow her reaction time and her yoyo flew out, wrapping several times tightly around the older man and pulling him to a stop.

He began to screech, arms flailing, hands in fists, as he was only steps from the edge. “Let me die! Let me die!”

Ladybug didn’t know this man, he was far too different, and it frightened her.

What had happened? 

She didn’t think she truly wanted to know.

Instead, she reeled him in, pulling him away from the edge and he slumped in her grasp, broken in tears once again.

“Do what you want.” he finally sniffled, “Just don’t make me do that again.”

She didn’t even try to guess what ‘ that’ meant, and just nodded, bringing him to the police station.

She was just about to drop down with him when she realized that she still looked like a lantern with three blue glows coming from her and the last time they’d seen her, Jack was the one who had a lantern-like body with a bunch of blue flames and many saw that.

Ladybug suddenly wished she had a cloak.

Like it’d read her freaking mind, a cloak, black as night with a small amount of red detailing billowed down around her from her neck.

Of course.

Ladybug already knew that the suits responded to their needs or wants seeing how Alya now had a tail, Nino now had reflectors, Adrien had a permanent hoodie on, she had more black in response to her ink stains, and now she was half metal and glass, but for some reason she hadn’t thought she’d get a cloak the moment she realized she’d likely need one.

With a huff, deciding she’d deal with this later, she dropped down to the police station’s doors and walked in.

She was met with surprised looks and wide eyes by the cops walking about, paperwork or coffee in hand, and the receptionists in the middle of the room.

Ladybug with a floor length cloak, holding Gabriel Agreste in her yoyo’s binding, a highly influential man, who looked not only frightened by everything, but as if he had been roughed up. 

None of them would know why he looked so bad, it’s just that despite what he had said earlier, he had tried several times to jump off the damn rooves as they went along.

She pushed him forward roughly towards the frightened receptionists, far past her limit of dealing with bullcrap for the day. Everyone parted before her like Moses parting the Red Sea. 

“Get Raincomprix.” She said.

Only one of the two receptionists moved, the other still staring in open shock. The one that moved, placed a call, fixed something on her computer screen, then looked up and told Ladybug where to go.

The heroine nodded, and shuffled off to the room she was directed to, tugging along a reluctant Gabriel.

She noticed how his eyes always lingered on signs that led to the roof and the guns hanging on the belts of the police and sighed. Sometimes, he even eyed some sharper looking pens.

She turned a corner or two before reaching a room full of desks and computers. The room quieted. Despite the late hour, there were still many officers on duty and they all stared at the heroine they’d seen carrying her dead friends off to wherever they went, the day before.

Ladybug scanned the room and the connecting offices before alighting on the one she was looking for.

She walked to the door, occasionally readjusting her grip on Gabriel or redirecting him whenever he actually made an attempt for a gun on a close enough officer or scissors on a desk.

The actions of the fashion emperor scared the officers, and they shied away from him when they could. 

Instead of the ceo of a great company, they thought, he looked more like a man strapped into a straight jacket.

Ladybug didn’t bother knocking on the door, instead preferring to just kick it open with a bang.

Now the officers weren’t sure if they should be afraid of the crazed billionaire or the clearly frustrated Ladybug when she was usually quite patient and kind who had reigned him in.

Roger looked straight at Ladybug, not looking over to the feral Agreste in her grip and Ladybug gave him props for it.

“You were looking for me?”

Ladybug tossed Gabriel to the ginger man with a shove. “Here’s your Hawkmoth. Put some cuffs on him and lock him up before he kills himself. Check his house or something, I’m sure you’ll find some confirmation for that.” She turned to leave the flabbergasted officer, but looked back again for a moment, “Oh, and open a case regarding the treatment of his son. If you have a look at their security cameras, you’ll find enough evidence on abuse.” With that, she walked out of the office. Or rather, she would have, but she decided that she didn’t want to walk past all those officers again and instead turned to the window and jumped out.

Some swore that they saw a blue light from beneath the cloak when she jumped, but they couldn’t be sure and therefore dismissed the thought.

<◉>

Marinette crashed down into her room through her trapdoor, completely exhausted.

She sagged against her bed with a sigh, Plugg curling closer to her neck in hopes to not fall of yet, Tikki on the other side, then slumped a bit and got ready to get up because she still had yet to give her friends their souls back and despite releasing her transformation, found that she still had a lantern body. Around the edges of where it began and ended, there was a continuous stream of bubbles made of light, like the transformation had stopped fading there.

She climbed down her loft bed and noticed the kwamis she’d left behind.

Wayzz and Trixx were hovering about their charges in confusion. The ladybugs had come through and Nino and Alya were now very much alive, but they still couldn’t feel their connection to them.

Marinette tiredly opened her lantern. Alya and Nino returned to their bodies, having similar reactions as Anthony when he regained his soul.

The kwamis’ faces lit up with so much joy because the connection was back!

Marinette turned away from them to focus on Adrien, whose body was now warm and alive and she could have fallen with how relieved she was but she could still feel the remnants of power simmering within, she could still feel the energy Adrien gave her, and so her body remained upright and she was sure that she wouldn’t trip over anything at the moment.

That did not count stumbling though, and so she slowly walked forward, her lantern door still open. But Adrien did not leave yet. He stayed up close near her heart.

He had been silent ever since they’d found his father. She didn’t know if he could look away, but she knew that he still understood what was happening, regret and pain that was not hers flaring every time Gabriel tried to do something stupid.

“Adrien.” she sighed.

“Please come out so I can properly hold you close.” That made him move just a little, but he still seemed reluctant to leave.

Marinette walked forward and propped Adrien’s body up into a sitting position before sliding into his lap and wrapping his hands around herself. “I’m gonna just enjoy this hug on my own then.”

That got him out. Instead of leaving through the door though, she felt him seep through her skin, going through her back, and sinking immediately into his own chest.

Her lantern faded and now she only had her own stomach again, but her energy dropped dramatically. 

His body shuddered around her and then his grip returned and she wasn’t just sitting there with him behind her, now she was properly being hugged.

Marinette melted into the hold.

Adrien’s eyes fluttered open tiredly, but stayed half lidded.

“Dang, it’s super exhausting being back.” He said and Marinette had to laugh. 

“I’m sure.” 

“I’m gonna fall asleep at this rate.” He nuzzled the back of her head. Plagg began to purr and Marinette remembered the ring on her finger.

She slid it off and slipped it onto Adrien’s, the ring changing shape to fit magically. She lightly patted where it sat. That’s where it ought to be.

Marinette enjoyed the sound of heartbeats filling the room that had felt so vacant without them the night before.

The raven haired girl yawned and settled into her spot with Adrien as his head sunk.

Then Adrien moved so that they were laying down and Marinette whined because she’d just settled. Adrien laughed, she huffed, but she snuggled close to him nonetheless, and soon was fast asleep.

<◉>

Sabine and Tom had checked over every news channel out there and still hadn’t seen anything of their daughter, nor the akuma for that matter. They also made sure to call the Lahiffe’s and Cesaire’s to check if it’d be okay for Alya and Nino to stay again.

They had ran up to Marinette’s room when they’d seen the ladybugs, but she still wasn’t back. Before heading back downstairs, they made sure to leave the light on for when their baby girl returned.

At the very least they knew that Ladybug had defeated Jack-o-lantern and the kids were now back. Now they just had to wait for her to come home.

They sat on the couch anxiously awaiting their daughter’s arrival, but they’d been stressed all day. Not only were they worried about their daughter, but they had to keep Gina from going up to check on her and Adrien because the last she’d seen of them, they went to Marinette’s room. They were exhausted, running on fumes, and it was far later than they usually went to bed as bakers do. They might have to stay closed tomorrow even though the holiday ends tonight. So they began to nod off.

The next thing either of them remembered was a loud thump, a knock to the wall from the guest room. Gina had always been a bit of a rough sleeper having so much energy all the time. They often wondered where she got it since she never really seemed to have an off switch.

Then they realized they’d fallen asleep.

WIth a start, they dashed up to their daughter’s room and when they opened the trap door… there she was, snuggled into Adrien’s side on the chaise.

Sabine and Tom sighed in relief before quietly entering the room.

They neared their daughter with smiles, Sabine sneakily shot a photo before Tom gently lifted both of them to the bed above -Sabine taking more pictures that were just for herself and Tom and not the scrapbook- before kissing Marinette’s forehead followed by Sabine who finally put down the camera. “Goodnight sweetheart.”

Sabine dragged a mattress up to Marinette’s room, ashamed to not have thought of it before, and had Tom lift Alya and Nino before they laid the two down on it, careful of the kwamis. 

Alya and Nino, after being moved, shifted around a bit before they found one another and snuggled close like Marinette and Adrien. 

It was with a smug grin that she took another picture to add to the scrapbook, this one the first one to not have either Marinette or Adrien in it, but she thought that her kids would appreciate the teasing material.

After another look to their daughter, they flipped the light off and finally went to bed in their own room.

<◉>

It’d been about a month. 

The cool of winter had set in and Marinette was glad that Adrien had become a permanent presence within their household.

Christmas would come soon.

Though usually a case may take longer to go through than just a month, especially with how much crap Gabriel had done and how much stuff needed to be discussed regarding the aftermath, as Gabriel had been a high ranking terrorist for the past three years give or take, his case was of utmost priority. 

Marinette had been worried about Adrien getting adopted. 

Though her parents made it well known that they would be glad to take him in, she wasn’t sure, because she was positive that she would be marrying him in the future and she didn’t know if it was allowed to marry your adoptive sibling, not to mention how weird that would be, but there weren’t many other good options out there.

He could go to his aunt’s and live with his terrible cousin, he could live with the Lahiffe’s but they didn’t have a good enough financial situation for him to stay seeing how Nino’s mom was not only single but also had recently lost her job. The woman honestly felt like she dodged a bullet being fired before this mess. She didn’t get all caught up in the legal matters. He could go to Gorilla or possibly Nathalie but the court hadn’t decided what to do with her yet and once again, Gorilla’s financial situation wasn’t currently the best. There was the Cesaires but they already had a large family. 

Really Adrien could go to any of their classmate’s families but in the end, either Adrien didn’t feel all that comfortable going with them, or there was already a situation inhibiting the adoption. Adrien didn’t really want to go with Chloe, even if she was becoming a better person. In fact, when you added in trauma, how much Adrien and Marinette needed each other, and then the magical crap of it all, Marinette’s home truly was the best place to stay.

Luckily for her -or maybe not? She wasn’t really sure as it was still weird- it turned out Adrien could be adopted into their family and still later marry Marinette, so that was that and she now had a fiance.

After the court cases were settled, Adrien remembered the book and Peacock Miraculous and was therefore able to return it to Nino when Marinette was returning the Butterfly Miraculous. She eventually learned what happened to Fu, and it was sad, but she couldn’t do much about it now that it had already happened. The only thing she regretted was not being able to say goodbye.

The entire month, Marinette had been thinking about the decision she was offered by Tikki, the same with Adrien, and it seemed both Alya and Nino had asked their own kwamis about it. Though Alya and Nino had a longer life span due to being the Guardians, they too had the same choice. It was nice to know that if they all chose yes, then they’d have each other.

Things were so freaking crazy in her life, Marinette wanted to call bullcrap. 

So, that was why she was now standing outside a building, about to meet a therapist with Adrien by her side.

Nino and Alya recommended this one, it was someone that Fu had known, and though they couldn’t go in together as they needed to learn to be able to be apart, they wouldn’t be too far away from one another.

Marinette was a little nervous.

She’d never thought she’d be able to get professional help, what with being the secret heroine of Paris, but apparently, according to Nino, the people here were trusted with the secret of the Miraculous and had kept quiet for years now.

Adrien took her by the hand and gave a soft squeeze. 

Marinette looked up to see him smiling down at her and her insides felt like mush. She nodded, “Mhm.”

His smile seemed to brighten just a bit even though she knew that he was just as nervous as she was. “Then let’s go.”

They walked into Lenoir’s Psychiatrics and Therapy hand in hand, ready to begin their journey of healing.