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Chapter 14: Chapter 14

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A few days later, on the next school day, Nino was understandably nervous for many reasons, the first being that he and Alya had started down the road to mending their relationship. While their relationship, like many others damaged by Lila’s lies, would never be exactly what it was, it would in time become something that both were happy with. The second reason Nino was nervous was that in light of the testimonies at Lila’s trial, the new principal was starting today and several teachers had been fired and replaced as well. Ms. Bustier had somehow managed to avoid the firing but had been severely reprimanded by the Governing Board and was under scrutiny. So, in this case, Nino was nervous as he had no idea what to expect from the school or the teachers going forward, he may have to stop wearing his headphones in class. The third, and most shocking reason was that he had recently learned that his two best friends had been secretly married for months. To add insult to injury, Chloé had known the entire time and had been taking a sadistic glee in being the only one outside the Agreste and Dupain-Cheng families who did. Knowing what he did now, her smug glances around the room from time to time, especially when Lila had talked about marrying Adrien, made so much more sense now.

As he walked into the school, unsure about what he’d find, he did take some comfort in the knowledge that his friends had finally decided to add him to the very exclusive circle of people who knew their biggest secret.

Needless to say, Nino was surprised when he walked into the class and Adrien and Marinette were both sitting in their normal seats in the back acting like nothing had changed from a few days ago. They both still wore the many rings they’d been using to throw off any suspicion, and neither was holding the other’s hand or showing any kind of affection. To all outward observers, nothing had changed.

As he slowly walked toward his friends all his nerves disappeared as they both warmly greeted him.

Adrien gave a quiet laugh as he saw Nino’s face.

“I’ll bet you are wondering why we are acting like nothing has changed,” he began as Nino sat in the seat Adrien indicated, right between him and Marinette. With a friend flanking either side, Nino sat in the chair and nodded.

“Well,” Marinette began as she pulled him into a side hug, “nothing has changed. Are we any different than we were yesterday, or the day before that, or the one before that?” She asked as she kept her arm around his shoulder.

He shook his head in the negative, a confused ‘no’ escaping his lips.

“Then why would we act any different in class if we aren’t any different?” she asked as she released him and sat back in her chair to smile at him. Adrien had sat back already and was just smiling as he watched his wife banter with their friend. He could see Nino slowly coming out of his shock.

“I guess that’s true,” he finally replied, “I was so nervous since I didn’t know what to expect after everything that happened.”

“We weren’t sure either,” Adrien admitted as he sat forward a bit so he could lower his voice a bit. “With everything that happened we didn’t know if we’d need the Gorilla to come with us or not. There is a very small pocket of people out there who think Lila is innocent.”

“Thankfully we didn’t need him,” Marinette added as she sat forward as well. “Now that she’s gone we can start building our lives again, and with no more Hawk Moth everything should be peaceful from now on.”

“Speaking of lives,” Adrien added with a playful look in his eye, “How are things going with Ayla?”

Nino blushed for a moment before he answered.

“It's going well,” he told them as he looked down at his folded hands. “we had a date last night, nothing fancy, just some coffee, but it was a start. I know it's going to be a long road to get back to where we were before if we ever can, but it’s a step in the right direction.”

“I know it’ll get there eventually,” Marinette told him as she pulled him into a hug, Adrien wrapping an arm around him as well.

Once they released Nino they all sat back and just talked while they waited for class to start. Eventually, the trial came up and Nino pointed something out.

“I know you guys…” he paused to look around to room to see if anyone was nearby, but no one was, “… got together to help against Lila’s lies, but why didn’t it come up in trial?”

“Well,” Adrien began as he leaned forward to make sure their conversation didn’t go too far away from their group, “Legal spoke with the prosecution and had to explain the nature of the relationship and the need to keep it secret. He understood and arranged it so that any mention of any potential relationship with Lila was made during my Father and Nathalie’s testimonies. Since they are considered adults and their testimonies would carry more weight on the subject, it was thought best to let them discredit the claims and leave Marinette and me out of it. In the end, it still worked out for the best since we were destined to end up together.” Adrien explained with a grin.

“I don’t agree with the adult testimony having more weight,” Marinette added, “but it did work out for the best for us either way. Like you said, destined to be together.”

They shared a look that spoke of a depth of love and friendship that Nino had never seen, although the shared look was only a few seconds, Nino still felt like he had invaded upon some secret of the universe he had never been meant to see.

“Either way,” Adrien said as he and Marinette turned to look at their friend, mischievous smiles on their faces, “it’s a moot point, Nathalie should be releasing a statement about my relationships very soon.”

“So soon?” Nino asked in surprise.

“With the threat of Lila gone we can move on with our lives now,” Marinette told him as she took Adrien’s hand under the table, “and with Hawk Moth gone there’s no threat of Akuma attacks.”

“Are we even sure he’s gone? It could be a trap still,” Nino asked.

“Well, you saw the video,” Marinette answered while sharing a look with Adrien, “and there have been no attacks since then.”

“I know,” he replied, “but I can’t help but feel like it can’t be as simple as him just wanting to retire.”

Adrien gave a nervous laugh.

“I’m sure it’s a lot more complicated than that,” he replied, “I’m just glad it's finally over.”

“Me too,” Marinette replied with a sigh, “I was getting so tired of all the attacks, it made it hard to have a life sometimes.”

“I know what you mean,” Nino said with a sigh as he put his head onto his arms, the rest of his reply coming out a bit muffled, but to Marinette, it sounded like he said, “Alya and I could never get time together sometimes.”

Marinette just patted his head and smirked at Adrien who shrugged, his eyes turning to where Alya was entering the room, eyes glued to her phone as she watched it with interest.

Nudging Marinette who was poking Nino in the head with a pencil eraser repeatedly, Adrien indicated where the report was. Marinette instantly knew what she was watching, Nathalie must have released the statement already. As the room grew quieter the audio from the video was audible, drawing the attention of everyone else, soon Alya was once again surrounded but the class as she turned the volume up so everyone could hear.

… following the high-profile case against Lila Rossi, the Agreste company has issued a statement regarding the relationship claims that Ms. Rossi had made about Adrien Agreste, while they had been proved false during the trial, the company wanted to clarify Mr. Agreste’s relationship status so there would be no confusion. The full statement is available on the company website; however, they have sent a summarized version to be read on the air today, it reads as follows; ‘regarding the perceived relationship that Ms. Lila Rossi imagined she had with Adrien Agreste, we can firmly deny that he ever had any relationship other than that of a classmate and fellow model, furthermore, Mr. Agreste has been in a committed relationship long before Ms. Rossi moved to Paris. The name of the individual he is seeing has been kept from the media to protect her and her family, but with all the rumors still floating around about the claims Ms. Rossi made it was determined that announcing his relationship would help to put those rumors to rest for good. At this time we will not be identifying his companion to maintain that protection.’ While not giving many specifics the statement does put to rest the rumors surrounding some of the claims Ms. Rossi had made regarding marriage to Mr. Agreste,” the anchor commented as they finished reading the shortened statement that had been sent to the news agencies.

“In the interest of journalistic integrity,” Marinette could see Alya physically flinch at this statement, “we will not be recounting any of the rumors. While the statement did not give any names it does create a lot of speculation as to who the mystery woman that captured Adrien Agreste’s heart is.”

Alya turned the video off as the anchor was starting to talk about betting pools to figure out who it could be.

Adrien and Marinette sat back in their seats and just watched as the others began to chatter amongst themselves.

“Nino,” Adrien said as he nudged his friend, while he hadn’t been sleeping he had been resting his eyes and thinking about everything that had happened.

“Yeah, dude?” he asked as he sat up and looked at Adrien.

“You should go talk to Alya,” Adrien told him as he indicated the reporter who seemed a bit lost now that she was seated all alone at the front, the others having moved back to their seats and gossiping about who the girl could be, they knew better now to not mob Adrien for answers. Marinette, Adrien, and Nino could all feel the heat of smugness radiating off Chloe as the others speculated.

Nino watched as Alya sat in a stupor, not just from the finishing blow to the claims Lila had made and that Alya had believed with no proof. The stupor was also from the fact that she had realized that with Hawk Moth gone there was no need for the Ladyblog to report on Akumas or the Heroes of Paris. On top of that, she was still not back to a relationship beyond friends with Nino and she didn’t even want to think about any kind of relationship with Marinette or Adrien right now. Somehow, the threat Adrien had made about Ayla losing everything had come true.

Nino saw how badly everything was affecting Alya, he nodded his head and moved to sit next to her instead of in his normal seat behind her.

As he sat down, Marinette and Adrien watched as Alya’s head shot up and her eyes widened, she hadn’t thought Nino would want to sit near her anymore. They watched as he tentatively started a conversation with Alya.

“We should move back to the front,” Marinette mused as she watched the two at the front interact, the stupor leaving Alya as Nino spoke to her.

“We should,” Adrien replied as he too watched, “but we should give them a few days to get comfortable with each other again.”

Marinette nodded in agreement as Ms. Bustier walked in and started class.

.o.0.o.

Adrien and Marinette let the rest of the week pass before they decided to join Nino and Alya back at the front the following Monday. Over the weekend Marinette and Adrien had had a long conversation with Nathalie and Gabriel as to whether they should tell Nino their superhero identities, but in the end, Nathalie had made a good point against it. She and Gabriel both felt that the fewer who knew the safer for everyone. Even though Hawk Moth was gone there was no guarantee that the Heroes of Paris would not be needed again to help save the day. Right now only the most important people knew, people that loved and cared for them but could also offer an alibi and protection if needed.

So, on Monday, both Marinette and Adrien made a show of sitting back in their original seats in the front, much to the surprise of Alya who started to speak but was cut off.

“This doesn’t mean our friendship is fixed,” Marinette warned with a raised left hand, her rings sparkling in the light, “it just means we are willing to give you a chance to prove yourself to us.”

“I understand,” she said as she nodded emphatically, eager for a chance to regain her friends.

Marinette and Adrien nodded their acceptance as they joined the conversation about Nino’s newest song.

A few days later they were all seated at lunch when Nino received an email notification from someone he didn’t recognize, curiosity getting the better of him he opened it. Adrien and Marinette both hid their grins as Nino’s face grew pale.

“Nino, you okay?” Alya asked when she saw his face.

He was speechless from shock so he just showed her the email. She quickly scanned it and her face lit up.

“That’s amazing!” She stated as the implications of the message took hold.

Nino could only nod in shock.

“What’s it say?” Marinette asked with a hidden smirk.

“It says,” Alya started, looking to Nino for confirmation to read it, he nodded. “That Jagged Stone heard about Nino’s music during the trial and gave it a listen. It says that Jagged Stone would like to collaborate on a mixed genre song with Nino for an upcoming album.”

“Wow,” Marinette said with a smile and a glance at Adrien, “That’s amazing. I can’t remember Jagged ever collaborating before.”

Nino just sat there stunned as he took the phone back and placed it on the table. Ayla was going on about how amazing this was and how proud of Nino she was. Even though they had decided to restart their relationship from square one, Alya was still proud of her boyfriend. Nino was only half listening as his brain began to process what had happened, his eyes narrowed and his head shot up to look at Marinette and Adrien, the action startling Ayla.

“You,” he said as he pointed at the not-so-innocent-looking couple seated across from him.

“Us?” They replied in unison and feigned innocence.

“You,” Nino repeated as he glared at them.

“When you say ‘you’ are you insinuating that Mari and I had something to do with this?” Adrien asked with a smirk.

“That is exactly what I am saying,” Nino retorted.

“Nino,” Mari said with a gentle touch of his hand, “Jagged’s manager reached out to us, she asked for your contact information. During the trial, it was mentioned you made music and that’s why you were able to get so much evidence, remember we talked about this before?” Nino nodded; he remembered that conversation. “Well, Penny is always looking for inspiration for Jagged, so she gave you music a listen and liked it. So did Jagged, he’s a big fan of dance music and he thought some of your stuff would mix well with his style. That email came from them with no help from us.”

“I can’t believe it,” the boy said as he processed it. He’d always wanted to take his music to a professional level, but he never thought it would happen. Marinette just smiled at her friend before turning to Ayla and leaving Nino to process the information.

“You may want to reply to that email,” Adrien suggested as he patted Nino on the back. The other boy snapped out of his stupor long enough to nod and grab his phone. Adrien laughed as he saw him frantically writing a reply.

“So,” Marinette said as Adrien turned his attention to the conversation she and Ayla were having. “What are you going to do with the Ladyblog now?”

Ayla sighed and slumped to the table, ever since the trial and the end of Hawk Moth’s reign of Terror she’d been asking herself that same question.

“Well, I took the site down for a few days while I scrubbed anything related to Lila and her lies from it,” she admitted ruefully. “Now I’m trying to do damage control with the sponsors I had. With Hawk Moth gone, a lot of them don’t see the point in the site anymore since Ladybug and Chat aren’t needed now, so they are pulling their funding.”

“That’s awful,” Marinette said, “I don’t think the sponsors are thinking it through.”

“What do you mean?” Ayla asked.

“Well,” Adrien answered as he rubbed his neck, trying not to reveal too much. “I’m sure the Heroes won’t be going away. There is still crime and the police can’t be everywhere. Maybe you can use the site as a way for people to report crimes that may not need the police.”

Ayla’s eyes lit up at the idea and she grabbed her laptop to begin making updates to the design and sending emails to the site sponsors.

Adrien and Marinette shared a smile before sharing a look indicating they’d need to talk later. Just as they were settling back to watch Ayla and Nino, the bell rang indicating the end of lunch.

That night Adrien, Marinette, Gabriel, and Nathalie were seated around the table with Marinette’s parents on the phone and the Gorilla nearby.

It had been decided that the identity of Hawk Moth and Mayura would be shared with the rest of the family. It had taken almost 2 weeks before Tom and Sabine had allowed the Agreste side to buy any pastries or speak to them. After accepting that not all of the atrocities were their fault things had settled back into a similar state as before.

Currently, everyone was gathered to talk about how to move forward for the Heroes as well as Hawk Moth and Mayura.

“With all the unpleasantness of the trial behind us, it’s time to see how we can move forward.” Gabriel began once all parties were assembled.

“I have already announced your relationship,” Nathalie said as she checked over her tablet. “PR has been fielding requests for comments and interviews since the news was made public, the biggest question is the identity of the mystery woman. As we agreed earlier, there will be no interviews or comments regarding her identity until you are both ready to reveal it. “

“I think we could announce that the mystery woman is the designer for the new Mari line,” Adrien added, “we aren’t hiding our relationship much now, we just aren’t obvious about it. Besides, if people haven’t figured out that Mari is the designer of Mari by now then obvious hints won’t help either. We know that people will put it together, but that will make the wedding announcement easier.”

“You both agree to this?” Gabriel asked as he sat back and thought about the angles of this revelation.”

“We do,” Mari added with a smile.

“Very well, we’ll make the announcement tomorrow,” he replied as Nathalie made a note to do so. “It is getting tedious to keep hiding your relationship. Now that there is no need, other than the hordes of disappointed fans proclaiming their undying love for Adrien, it is indeed time to push forward with the formalities.”

“On that note,” Adrien began, “I think the Heroes should talk to the police about being deputized and officially able to arrest criminals and not be vigilantes.”

“Yes, Nathalie and I had much the same thought. We spoke briefly before about helping the police with situations they can’t handle or cannot get to in time,” Gabriel replied. “While the Miraculous Cure won’t repair any damages as there is no Akuma, the powers that you possess would be invaluable additions to the police force. Nathalie will reach out to the police through our contact from the investigation to see about getting the ball rolling.”

“Our identities will be kept secret, right?” Marinette asked.

“It will be the number one priority,” Nathalie answered, “while Lila is gone, there are still those who sympathize with her so keeping your identities protected is the number one priority.”

“Speaking of identities,” Adrien said, “what are we going to do about you and Nathalie?”

“We have been talking late into the night on that very topic,” Gabriel answered. “We both decided that we would have the Heroes reach out to mental health professionals that we can trust to have our health evaluated and see how the use of the damaged Miraculous’ affected us. We will also need to reach out the medical professionals to see how our physical health was affected as well. Once we have reports for both we will ask the Heroes to approach the government and plead our case in person.”

“Mari,” Nathalie asked as she set the tablet down and took Gabriel's hand, fear of the future evident in her face. “Have the Guardians been able to repair the damage?”

“Yes,” Mari started only to continue with a sigh, “and no. Yes, they have repaired the damage as far as the dark influences that both Miraculous had over you. No, in that the ability to repair the physical Miraculous has been lost to time.”

“Would the Guardians be willing to testify to the influences that the damaged Miraculous had over us?”

“I’ll have to ask, they are currently still looking into why you were turned away all those years ago when you came for help, so they should be more willing to help repair the damage that rejection caused you.”

Gabriel and Nathalie nodded as one and both released a breath neither was aware of holding.

“So,” Sabine said into the silence that followed, “when should Tom and I start planning the reception? Spring or Summer?”

“MAMA!” Marinette said as she hid her face in her hands and the others laughed.

That comment served to break the pall that had settled over the group, laughter and joking and planning for a wedding the likes of which had not been seen in Paris since the days of the Monarchy filled the air as the group talked the rest of the night.

.o.0.o.

A month later speculation on who the designer of Mari was was still circulating through the news, especially since it had been announced a few days prior that Adrien Agreste would be wedding her in June in a public ceremony.

While some had put together the pieces and had figured out that Marinette was Mari, they had been respectful and kept it secret. Most of them enjoyed the fact they were now part of a very exclusive club.

Nathalie took great amusement in announcing the efforts the news and tabloids were going through to determine the secret identity, many had posted employees at the Mayor’s office to try and catch Adrien and his mystery woman entering for the civil ceremony. None had even thought to check the records of the months prior.

As the school year was winding down and June was quickly approaching, the issue of Hawk Moth, Mayura, and the Heroes had been brought up with the authorities and some concessions had been reached.

The Heroes would be publicly deputized as law enforcement officers and allowed to legally and officially perform law enforcement and rescue duties when in their hero personas only, their civilian identities being kept secret.

The Guardians had sent an envoy of members to testify on behalf of Hawk Moth and Mayura and the nature of the dark influences that had overtaken them. The Guardians had also apologized to the people of Paris (through the government interviewers so who knows if it will ever be released to the public) for their part in creating the situation with Hawk Moth and the Akumas.

As for Hawk Moth and Mayura, they presented the findings of their medical and mental health evaluations and the comparisons to previous evaluations. The results showed a significant impairment in judgment and control when under the influence of the Miraculous. Gabriel and Nathalie had explained the entire situation of events, from the finding of the Miraculous to Emilie’s illness, to what led up to them giving up the Miraculous, omitting that Adrien and Marinette were the Heroes.

After weighing all the evidence and considering the reparations that Gabriel had already completed as well as the help he had provided in entrapping Lila, the authorities found that both he and Nathalie would serve a five-year sentence in a private prison controlled by the government and that they would complete their prison term every Saturday and Sunday for the next five years. In addition to continued mental and physical evaluations for any potential lingering effects of the corrupted Miraculous.

With the end of school and the wedding approaching quickly, Marinette was racing around to not only plan the wedding but to design her dress. Knowing that the public ceremony would be a huge spectacle, they had arranged to use the cathedral of Notre Dame for the ceremony itself, the towering room filled with flowers to make it look like Emilie’s garden, or at least that was the current plan.

Marinette sighed as Adrien’s arms wrapped around her, his chin resting on her shoulder. Taking a calming breath she turned in his arms and snuggled into his chest.

“You looked like you could use a hug,” he told her as he kissed the crown on her head.

“There is so much to do,” she whined from his chest, her voice slightly muffled.

“Nathalie will take care of any details you want her to,” he told her. It was true, the assistant had taken most of the planning duties and was working closely with Marinette to make sure the wedding was exactly what she wanted. However, Marinette being Marinette, she had also taken on several new commissions and was determined to get a new line of summer clothes out for Mari in time to be released after the wedding. She had also agreed to design the outfits for the music video for the collaboration between Jagged and Nino, early sample releases of the song had proved to be a huge hit and was said to be some of Jagged’s best work to date.

“Oh,” Adrien said with a smile as he pushed Marinette away, her cute whine making him smile more. “Nathalie got some news about Lila. It seems that the ICC has finished its proceedings and found Lila guilty on all counts. She’s being sent to an ICC prison in Italy for at least 20 years, and that’s in addition to what the French court found.”

“That’s amazing,” she replied as she stood there for a moment just taking the news in. After waiting so long it was truly over, Lila was getting the justice she deserved.

“It seems as though they uncovered a history of her abusing people like you in other countries, several had almost been driven to take their lives but were stopped before they could do anything. By that time Lila was long gone.”

Adrien was silent for a moment as he let Mari take that all in, he did have some sad news to share.

“Father got word from the hospital that there is nothing the Guardians can do for Mother. Had they come earlier they could have, but the damage is too severe to fix. All we can do is just keep her comfortable until the end.”

“Oh Adrien,” she said as she drew him to her and held him. They had all known this could be a possibility, but no one had wanted it. Even with the relationship between Gabriel and Nathalie, neither had wanted this outcome for Emilie.

Silently he held her as he muffled the few tears that fell in her shirt. Soon they had stopped and he was able to regain himself again. Taking her hand he kissed it before pulling her into another hug. He pulled away and wrapped his arm over her shoulder.

“There will be time to mourn when it happens,” he told her with all the confidence of Chat Noir, “for now let’s take a break and go have lunch. Ayla and Nino are coming over and Nathalie and Father will be there as well.”

Marinette smiled as Tikki flew over from where she had been resting in a pile of fabric samples. Plagg popped his head out of Adrien’s shirt and waved at his companion. Taking her husband’s hand she tidied up the worktable one-handed before she led him from the room and toward lunch. As the light in the workroom turned off, the door closed to the sound of the happy couple laughing and bantering as they walked down the hallway, ready to start the next chapter of life together, little knowing that the next chapter would prove to be a big one with the addition of another little Agreste.

o.0.o.0.o

The End