Chapter Text
Gabriel Agreste. A man she looked up to and admired and yet that had nothing on what Adrien felt for the man. Marinette didn’t want to think about it, yet she couldn’t stop thinking about it. Adrien’s father had taken Plagg, in full knowledge of what Plagg stood for. Gabriel had snatched the kwami of destruction.
Adrien seemed to walk across the room toward her in slow motion.
This was… inconceivable. Horrible. How could his father do something like that to Adrien?
How was she going to tell him? She had to. She couldn’t lie to him. Not now. Not with this.
But… Deedee was right. It could easily break Adrien. He’d been so worried about Plagg and his father had taken him. How would she feel if it had been her father taking Tikki?
Nino had always disliked Gabriel. He never said anything outright, but there was an underlying anger there. Small remarks, a rolling of eyes, a sad watching as Adrien walked away. Was something else going on she didn’t know about?
Marinette twitched. Maybe she should go home. Claim she wasn’t feeling well and run. Delay the decision. Adrien smiled at her as he continued to walk toward her. Bright and cheerful and it broke her even more. She was going to see that smile wiped from his face. She was going to cause it.
Marinette turned her head to regard the kwami. Tikki’s paw was on Deedee’s shoulder as they floated close together and watched her solemnly. This was her decision. She could tell him, then deal with the consequences. Or she could wait and hear Tikki’s explanation, then decide what to do. Perhaps it was best if she got all the information first.
Coward’s way out. Right?
“He likes you!” Adrien announced. “He was impressed.”
Mariette moistened dry lips. “Oh?”
“Well, he didn’t say it, but he squeezed my shoulder and nodded, so I’m definitely taking that to mean… what’s wrong?”
She closed her eyes. She hoped Adrien would forgive her. What if he didn’t? What if she told him and he hated her for it? What if she broke their family? Could she be responsible for that?
“Marinette? Are you alright? You look sick.”
She’d just have to pretend everything was fine. For the entire night. Could she even do that? How long had Deedee been pretending?
Forcing her eyes open, she tried to smile. “I’m feeling a little overwhelmed.”
He grew concerned. One hand on her elbow, the other took her wrist as he guided her back to the sofa. “Sit down. You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Do you want some water?”
She didn’t know if she could do this. Shaking her head, she looked helplessly at the kwami.
“Marinette,” Deedee said. “Have you seen the size of Adrien’s television? You could kick major butt on Mecha Strike.”
Adrien’s hand stroked Marinette’s back. “Deedee, I don’t think—”
She pounced on Deedee’s suggestion. “Yes,” Marinette said, too enthusiastically. “Yes. Let’s do that.”
He frowned, confused. “Um. Alright,” he said and stood to fetch the controllers.
Marinette died a little inside. This was going to go wrong. So wrong.
She couldn’t concentrate on the game. She made stupid mistakes, sloppy moves and cringe-worthy attacks. He side-eyed her halfway through the second round, changing the way he fought to give her openings in his attacks and when she couldn’t even follow through, she could tell he knew something was wrong. After the second sound thrashing by Adrien, he took the controller from her hand.
Leaning forward, he put the controllers on the coffee table ahead of them and half turned on his seat toward her. “What’s wrong?”
She stared at a spot on the floor. She hadn’t even managed to hide this from him for ten minutes. “Do you ever think we don’t know people as well as we think we do?”
It was cryptic, she knew and it only confused him more. “I guess? Maybe?”
“And people we idolised turn out to be something we didn’t expect and we realise we put them on a pedestal, and then they don’t live up to expectations and you have no idea what to do?”
He pressed his lips together.
“I’m sorry,” she said, ignoring the two kwami among the flowers. “I just don’t know—”
“I thought things were going well,” he said.
Marinette blinked. She wasn’t too far gone in her own misery not to notice the catch in his voice. “Adrien—”
He clasped his hand together and stared at his palms. “If the thought of kissing me is that bad, then please, just tell me. I’d rather know it’ll never happen than hope it will.”
She tried to wrap her mind around that. She’d been thinking she didn’t know how to deal with Gabriel stealing Adrien’s ring and he’d been worried about her not wanting to kiss him. “No,” she breathed. “No, Adrien, don’t think that. I’m really looking forward to kissing you again.”
“It’s kind of hard when you’re being all—” He jerked. “Wait. Again?”
“I want it to be perfect and we can never seem to find the right time or we get interrupted and it would be really, really wrong to try and kiss you now, knowing that—” she caught herself from mentioning it, casting a frantic glance at Tikki and Deedee.
“So, you do want to kiss me?” he clarified.
“Of course.” She slid her fingers along his palm until he unclasped his hand to take hers. “Of course, I do.”
He puffed out a breath. “Good. ‘Cause I really, really want to kiss you.” He lifted his hand to cup her face and stroked his thumb along her cheek.
Dropping her chin, she closed her eyes. “Chat, I...” How? How could she tell him? How could she not? She couldn’t keep this a secret. It was going to gnaw away at her until he knew. But Tikki, Deedee and Master Fu had agreed to keep this from him.
Why? Why did they have to keep it from him?
“May I kiss you now?”
Not fair. Not fair. His voice did so many wonderful and crazy things to her heart and she knew, had her eyes been open to see his face as he asked, she would have let him kiss her without qualm. But it wouldn’t be fair to him or to her. She didn’t want this hanging over her head. She didn’t want him to wish he’d never kissed her to begin with when he found out. “No. I can’t. Not now. It wouldn’t be right.”
A trembling gasp and his hand slipped from her face.
She broke away from him, standing to move away from him, unwilling to look at the heartbreak she knew danced on his face. Bracing herself, she said, “Adrien, I need to tell you something and I don’t know if I should, but I think it’s really, really wrong to keep it from you but I know there has to be a good reason. I can’t, I just can’t and—”
“Please,” Deedee said, appearing before Marinette. Her head bowed, her stinger unbearably still. She clasped her paws against her chest and bowed lower. “Ladybug. This is my mess and I should not have asked of you what I did. Please, allow me.”
Confused, Adrien said, “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”
Marinette inclined her head and wrapped her arms around herself.
“I’m so sorry,” Deedee said. “I never meant for this.”
Marinette nodded.
“Marinette?” Adrien asked. “Deedee?”
Floating over to Adrien, Deedee kept her stillness as she said, “We know who took Plagg.”
Marinette hugged herself tighter at the sudden elation on Adrien’s face. “You do?” he blurted. “That’s fuzz-tastic! We can go get him!”
“It’s not that simple,” Deedee said. “I need you to listen. There’s a lot you don’t know and you need to understand.”
Adrien frowned at Deedee, then Marinette. “It’s something bad, isn’t it?”
Deedee cast a helpless glance at Tikki, who nodded. Taking a deep breath, Deedee said, “Sometimes… when a kwami needs to rise, there is more than one choice available to them. For kwami like Tikki and Plagg, the choice is simple. It takes a special kind of person to wield them, a strong, courageous person, but also people who match each other, that part is very important. Even if they rise separately, a wielder is chosen who will match but not bonded. Remember when we told you only certain people can summon a kwami?”
“Yes,” Adrien said, glancing between Deedee and Marinette again.
Tikki said, “What we did not tell you was within those people is the power to summon any dormant kwami as long as their power is enough for the kwami to bond with. Had you or Marinette touched Kitt’s necklace, for example, without being bonded to myself or Plagg first, you may have bonded to them instead. Ill-matched and never able to reach your full potential, but still a bond. This is why Fu guards us while we are dormant, and makes sure we get to the people who are best suited to use us.”
Deedee continued, “In the case of Papillon, Nooroo’s broach was lost, and therefore unguarded.”
Adrien nodded. “That’s how Papillon got him. He forced a bond?”
“He did,” Tikki replied. “Papillon’s power is great enough that he could potentially form a bond with me or Plagg, but he could never wield us to our full potential.”
“So he couldn’t have this ultimate power,” Adrien said, excited about that.
“If he had both of us, then he could, theoretically, access a portion of it,” Tikki said. “Even that would be catastrophic.”
“Oh. Shoot.”
Deedee took the lead in the story, “For kwami like Ferris, there were several who had potential.”
Keeping his eyes on Deedee, Adrien extended his hand to Marinette.
“Thirty years ago, when it was time for Ferris to rise, there were two people who called to him the most. A sixteen-year-old boy, and a fourteen-year-old girl. Siblings from a family with a history of wielders dotted back through the ages. Not everyone, sometimes that family went generations without producing someone with potential, but each wielder was stronger than the last.”
Swallowing, Marinette crossed to Adrien and took his hand. She sat beside him as close as she could, feeling the need to comfort him as much as she needed comfort herself.
Deedee drifted a little away from them. “The siblings were judged by Master Fu, Wayzz, Kitt and Kitt’s wielder and myself, and the girl was found more suitable. But because they came from a long line, a courtesy was extended to the family, making them aware of the judging.”
“It was a mistake,” Tikki said. “The family was more aware of the miraculous than we realised and the beginnings of a cult had formed around the potential for wielders. They were… essentially breeding the potential to wield the stones. The girl accepted Ferris. The boy demanded a kwami of his own. One just as powerful, or even more so that what he believed Ferris to be. He demanded Plagg.”
Adrien swallowed. “So, he has Plagg?”
Deedee shook her head. “She loved her family and they were all turning on her, believing the boy had a greater gift for it, saying she could never reach her full potential because she was so kind-hearted. He... he loved his sister and tried to shield her, but the family turned him against her too and he demanded she turn over Ferris to him. It… was messy and… horrible for her. Ferris fled with her and helped her hide from her family.”
Tikki said, “She grew up. She fell in love. She had a child. She was happy. Then, five years ago, her brother found her.”
“Or, she found him,” Deedee said. “We’re not sure. He never gave up his search for a kwami, for hers or one with a great power.”
“What we do know is she found out about it and tried to stop him,” Tikki said. “We know that he found Nooroo. And we know… we know her bond was broken with Ferris. That could mean any number of things, but we suspect…” Her voice cracked. “We suspect she perished.”
Marinette covered her mouth with her free hand. Gears were churning in her head, dragging her to a devastating conclusion and she knew she wasn’t going to like what came next.
Adrien looked between kwami, then to Marinette.
“She left her young son without answers and her husband with a kwami he couldn’t use. A husband with enough knowledge of the miraculous to know what powers Nooroo held, what dangers he could represent and how to fight it. A husband who, in trying to protect his son,” Deedee’s eyes filled with tears, “took away his miraculous.”
Adrien’s hand crushed Marinette’s. “No.”
Marinette’s cheeks were wet and there was a pain in her chest and in her hand, but she didn’t dare release him.
So still, Deedee said, “I’m so sorry, Adrien.”
Adrien shook his head. “He wouldn’t.”
“He has both Ferris and Plagg and he tried to take Deedee,” Tikki said.
“He had the book, Adrien,” Marinette said, being as tender as she could. “He knows.”
Adrien turned his head to stare at her and she saw the moment he believed the kwami cross his face. He jerked away from Marinette, standing to stalk away.
Marinette made to follow. “Adrien—”
He twisted back to face them. “You weren’t going to tell me, were you?” He scowled at all three of them in turn and Marinette realised he included her in his anger.
Marinette curled in on herself. “I didn’t know,” she whispered.
Deedee said, “In honour of Aurelie, I was trying to give Gabriel a chance to return it.”
“You let me believe—” he held up his hand, denying Deedee’s words as he stalked toward the door.
“Adrien?” Marinette called. He didn’t answer and Marinette rushed to follow him with Tikki and Deedee dashing after her. “Adrien, wait, please.”
“Wait for what?” he snapped at her, thundering down the stairs. “More lies and half-truths? Kwami-cryptic words? No. I’m done.”
Marinette followed as Adrien stalked to the double doors to his father’s office and slammed them open. Marinette was close enough behind him to see both Nathalie and Gabriel’s startled faces. Stomping inside, Adrien demanded, “Nathalie, I need a moment with my father.”
Nathalie snapped, “This is most uncalled for. You are being very rude.”
Marinette lingered in the doorway and tried not to be noticed. She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to be here or not.
Gabriel stared, one hand behind his back, the other pressing a phone to his ear. His eyes flicked to Marinette. Flicking a button, he lowered the phone. “I see. Nathalie, a moment.”
Nathalie looked scandalised. “But Gabriel, this behaviour is—”
“Nathalie,” Gabriel said in a warning tone.
She gaped at him. Turning on her heel, she obeyed and stalked toward the door. Spotting Marinette, she extended her arm in an attempt to usher Marinette from the room. “Come on, we need to—”
“She stays,” Adrien snapped without taking his eyes off Gabriel.
Marinette swallowed. “Adrien, I don’t—”
“Stay,” he repeated. “Nathalie, please close the doors.”
Nathalie, bewildered, did was she was instructed, forcing Marinette to step further into the room so she wouldn’t get hit by the doors.
“You’re going to give Plagg back,” Adrien said. “And you’re going to give Ferris back to Master Fu. And you’re going to tell me why you lied to me about my mother!”
“No. I’m not.” Gabriel placed his phone on the desk ahead of him. “We had an agreement, Deedee.”
“I said ‘at most’, Gabriel,” Deedee said rising from behind Marinette’s shoulder. “I am not obliged to—”
Tikki rose. “That agreement wasn’t with me.”
Gabriel blanched and took a step back. “So. My theory was correct. Marinette is Ladybug.”
“Leave her out of this,” Adrien snapped and sidestepped so he stood between Gabriel and Marinette.
“You brought her into this, Adrien,” Gabriel replied.
Adrien thrust out a hand and pointed. “Deedee, there’s a safe behind the picture of my mother. That’s where we found the book.”
“You stole the book,” Gabriel corrected as Deedee rocketed toward the portrait.
“It wasn’t yours to keep,” Tikki said. “It should’ve been returned, along with Ferris. You know this.”
Deedee popped back out and shook her head mournfully. “It is empty.”
“I will not be returning the cat or the peacock miraculous,” Gabriel said. He stepped toward Adrien, his hand outstretched. “Adrien, it is too dangerous. I’ve watched you. You throw yourself into danger, you put yourself at risk so often. You’re going to get yourself killed if you don’t stop. It’s my job to protect you.”
Adrien jabbed his hand on his chest. “You left me vulnerable!” He thrust his hand to where Marinette stood. “You left her without a partner!”
Reaching Adrien, Gabriel rested his hand on Adrien’s shoulder. “You don’t need to be Chat Noir or Bumblebee. There are others more suited to that kind of life. People who have trained from birth, who know the risks.”
“I know the risks,” Adrien snapped. “I would be Chat Noir with or without a miraculous. It’s who I am.”
“You are emotional, Adrien. You need to calm down. Take a breath and—”
Adrien laughed and Marinette got chills. “I get it. Emotional. You don’t want me akumatised, right? Keep on the straight and narrow, never show emotion, that’s what you’ve been trying to teach me. Well, I wield a miraculous. I can’t be akumatised. So you can’t control me like that anymore. Give me Plagg.”
“No,” Gabriel reaffirmed. “You are young and playing the hero. You don’t know what you want and—”
“My mother is a wielder,” Adrien said. “Did you try and control her too?”
“Your mother was a wielder,” Gabriel corrected. “I believe she gave her life to their cause.”
Adrien crumpled. “No. No. It’s not true. You told me she was missing.”
Gabriel’s voice turned sympathetic. “You are so young, Adrien. She didn’t want this life for you. She didn’t want it for herself. It causes too much heartbreak and pain. Her entire family abandoned her because of it.”
Adrien hung his head, then covered his face with his hands. “How could you keep this from me?”
“It was for your own good.”
Adrien shook his head. “That’s not fair,” he said, his voice cracking several times, then muffled a sob.
Dropping his hand from Adrien’s shoulder, Gabriel fixed his cuff, then his tie, visibly controlling his own emotions. “I will not be returning the cat miraculous to you. We are going to break this bond between you both, then we are going to forget this nonsense ever happened. You are not a hero, Adrien. You are a child. My child and it is my job to protect you.” His tone lost the tenderness and became instructive. “Study group is cancelled for tonight. Go to your room and control yourself. We’ll discuss this in the morning.” Flicking his eyes to Marinette, he said, “It was nice meeting you. Unfortunately, I do not approve of Adrien pursuing a relationship right now. Please see yourself—”
Adrien lifted his chin. “No.”
Gabriel paused. “I beg your pardon?”
Adrien wiped his face, dashing away tears. “You don’t get to dictate anymore.”
“Adrien—”
Adrien’s voice was soft and unemotional, yet every word was like a visible slap to Gabriel. “I loved you. I trusted you. And you lied to me. You stole something you knew was important without caring what that would do to me.” His voice started getting higher and angrier. “Not just to me, but to Ladybug and all the kwami. You stole an ancient power and kept it from its rightful wielder for some stupid, petty reason. This is my decision and I want my kwami back.”
“No,” Gabriel said. He jerked forward, clutching both Adrien’s upper arms, hunkering down so he was eye-level with his son. “I lost your mother, Adrien. I am not going to lose you too.”
Adrien’s chest heaved as he stared at his father, his breath expelling out his nose with huffy bull noises. “You just did.” Yanking himself from Gabriel’s grip, Adrien turned and marched over to Marinette. He looked broken, barely holding it together. Tears stained his face and his eyes watered. He couldn’t meet her gaze and she knew there was nothing she could do to take away the great pain he now carried. “C’mon,” he said, taking her hand.
He pulled her along, marching them both out of the room. Tikki and Deedee dove down to hide in Marinette’s pockets as they moved past a confused Nathalie.
“Adrien? What’s going on?” Nathalie asked.
Adrien didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled Marinette up the stairs.
Marinette glanced down as Adrien pulled her along, seeing Nathalie heading into Gabriel’s office to look for answers. “Adrien?”
“Deedee. Lock the other door,” he said as he pulled Marinette inside his room. Deedee flashed away. Releasing Marinette, Adrien locked that bedroom door, then pressed his forehead against the wood. His chest heaved, his shoulders shook and his breathing sounded raspy. “I can’t breathe.”
She touched his shoulder and he trembled beneath her hand. Startled, she drew back. “Adrien?”
He shook his head. “She’s dead. She’s gone.”
She wanted to hold him, to soothe him and love him, but she didn’t know if he’d accept that right now. “I’m so sorry.”
A strangled noise then he pushed away from the door. His face was almost grey and sweat dotted his brow. He took a few steps into his room then stopped.
Her hands curled against her chest, Marinette watched him. “What do you need?”
“I just… I need a minute, okay?”
Marinette nodded. She reached out a hand and placed it on his chest, over his heart. It thumped against her palm, a rapid flutter against his heaving ribcage.
A tear trickled down his cheek and he looked everywhere but at her. “Don’t go anywhere. And don’t let them in. Okay?”
“Okay.”
He walked away from her and entered the bathroom, closing the door behind him. Hopelessness swamped her as she stared at the shark on the door. “Tikki?”
“Deedee is with him. She will help him.”
“What just happened?”
“Something that was a long time in—”
An alarm went off and loud clattering as shutters slipped across Adrien’s row of windows startled Marinette. The view of the sky outside vanished, blocked off by security doors.
“What?”
Tikki sat on Marinette’s shoulder and snuggled into Marinette’s neck to help soothe her. “Security system,” she guessed. “We saw this before.”
“He’s trying to stop us from leaving,” Marinette said, gaping at the windows.
“That seems likely. Don’t worry, a lucky charm can create an exit.”
“But… why?”
“Because I am creation and—”
Marinette shook her head. “No. Why would he lock us in here?”
“There’s a lot about Adrien’s life we don’t know,” Tikki said. “A lot he’s been keeping close. I suspect a dam has burst.”
Feeling the need to sit, Marinette walked to the closest place she could, which happened to be across to Adrien’s bed. “I’m beginning to see that.” Taking a deep breath, Marinette closed her eyes. Hunching over, her rested her face in her hands and muffled a sob.
“Marinette?”
“I’m okay,” she whispered.
“You’re not and that’s okay. He’s going to need you.”
“I know. I’ll be here when he’s ready.”
She concentrated on her breathing. Flopping back on his bed, she kept her hands over her face. She shouldn’t cry. Not yet. Not here and now. Not when he was probably doing the same thing in the bathroom. Snatching a moment where she couldn’t see him vulnerable. The pain he must be feeling would be immense and she didn’t know how to help him.
The door rattled and Marinette sat up, startled. She looked between the main door and the bathroom door, unsure what she should do.
Gabriel’s voice echoed through the door. “Adrien, this is ridiculous and juvenile. Unlock the door.”
“Says he who locked us in,” Marinette muttered.
“Marinette,” Gabriel called. “You know this doesn’t concern you. You shouldn’t get between us. Open the door and let me speak to my son.”
Tikki zipped toward the door. “I’ll take care of this,” she said and phased through. Even through the door, Marinette heard Tikki’s voice. “If you do not leave him be until he is ready to speak with you, I will remove all creativity from you. You will never design again. Do you understand?”
Zipping back in, Tikki smiled at Marinette’s astonishment. “You can do that?”
“Absolutely,” Tikki said. “I don’t like to, but it’s good incentive for him to give Adrien a moment.”
“Remind me never to get on your bad side.”
Tikki smiled, then let it die. “I should have told you about Gabriel. I should have prepared you.”
Marinette bit her lip. “You had your reasons. I should’ve listened to you.”
“Deedee hoped he’d see reason and return Plagg. We hoped we could avoid this sort of altercation altogether, saying he could leave Plagg in a place for Adrien to find. Gabriel is all Adrien has left, and while what Gabriel did was wrong, it came from the part of him which loves his son. We couldn’t take that away from Adrien.” Tikki dipped down to nuzzle Marinette. “Sometimes things don’t turn out the way we hope.”
“I’m sorry. I should’ve held it together. I should’ve been stronger and—”
“This is not your fault,” Tikki soothed. “We shouldn’t have expected you to keep a secret like that.”
Marinette flopped back on Adrien’s bed. “How did it get so bad so quick?”
Tikki curled up on Marinette’s chest and Marinette closed her eyes. Thinking better of it, she pulled out her phone and typed out a quick message to Alya, warning her not to come and that she’d call her later to explain, then she turned her phone off. She wasn’t sure if Adrien wanted this known yet. She wasn’t sure of anything.
When bathroom door clicked open, Adrien came out carrying a duffle bag. He couldn’t look at her as he dropped it on the floor by the door and then thrust his hands in his pockets. His face was splotchy and red, as were his puffy eyes. Deedee sat on his shoulder, looking more dejected and still than Marinette had ever seen her. Marinette stared at Adrien, then at the duffle bag.
His voice was hoarse. “I can’t stay here. I thought I could, I thought I should, but then he locked us in and I can’t.”
Marinette nodded. “Okay.” She stood. “Whatever you need.”
“I really need a hug,” he mumbled.
She rushed him, her hands around his hips and her face buried in his chest before he’d even had time to drag his hands out of his pockets to catch her. He tangled and fumbled and made a strangled noise as he buried his face against the top of her head and got his arms around her to hold on.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I’m so sorry. I should’ve said something straight away, but… I was so scared about what it meant.”
He clutched her tighter and didn’t say anything.
Marinette listened to his heartbeat slow and his breathing even out as the hug seemed to help him find his feet. Even still, it was some time before Adrien raised his head and made signs that he was almost ready to release her.
He stroked a hand down her back and let it rest at the small. “Do you think your parents would mind if— I mean, I have a credit card, I can go to a hotel or something, I—”
“No,” Marinette replied. “You’re coming home with me.”
“Okay.” He took a shaky breath and let it out slowly. Rubbing his hands along her arms, he murmured, “Get your bag. Deedee says a sting will get us through the shutter. I don’t want to… I don’t want to talk to him right now.”
Marinette nodded. “Tikki says she can make a door for us.”
Adrien nodded. “Okay. Good. Let’s go.”
Gabriel sat glued to the security feed, watching as Bumblebee scurried up the fence, bag in hand, and followed closely by Ladybug. Bumblebee stopped on the wall and faced the camera. “Don’t look for me,” he mouthed, then dropped down to the other side.
Ladybug cast a helpless look in the direction of where she thought was a camera, then followed Bumblebee.
His heart sank into the pit of his belly and Gabriel clawed at his hair. “No. No. No, you can’t leave. Don’t be so stupid. I can’t protect you if you leave.” Despair twisting inside him, he pushed away from the screen and turned just in time to see a black butterfly vanish into his ring.
“Hello Gabriel. I’ve waited a long time for this.”