Prologue

"Maybe."

Marinette rested her arms on the railing of her balcony, overlooking the tiny peek of Paris' cityscape. Her hands met palm to palm, and her eyes slid from the horizon to her fingers as they laced themselves together. The fingernails on her hand were messy and torn, nervously tugged and chewed from the build-up of anxiety over the last few weeks. She'd never been very good with change, but she was beginning to realize that change was everywhere. From the way the sun dipped behind the buildings, turning them golden and raspberry, to the callouses that had gradually grown on her palms from her adventures.

Callouses that had grown over her years of school, so slowly that she'd barely noticed it. Marinette was grateful for them, they made it easier to move across the city, longer. However, perhaps it's vain, but a girlish part of her wondered if she'd ever lose them.

Then, her focus shifted from her hand to the street below her, barely populated as the evening grew. She inspected the street, the sidewalk, the concrete, leaning slightly over the edge of her railing. Maybe...no...there'd be too much of a mess.

"Mari?" A voice sounded from behind her, just as her eyes were beginning to glaze over. She jolted into a back straight, standing position, only to relax completely when a hand rested on her elbow. "What are thinking about?" Chat, having traipsed into her personal space once again, asked with a brow raised, innocent expression.

Marinette twisted her lips, a deep, sore vein throbbing slightly in her core. Still, she let her expression rest into a smile. "Good evening, Chat. I was just wondering about...actually your press conference earlier today." She murmured, although not a total lie, she still felt like a liar saying it. "I thought you might be thinking about it as well."

Chat dropped one eyebrow, tilting his head to the side. "Why would you be worrying about that?" He moved to her side, sitting on the railing with his back to the city. Marinette observes him curiously. "Even I'm not mulling over it." He commented off hand, looking down and around at her balcony setting. "Hey what's that? Is it your diary?" Chat asked excitedly, grabbing for a dull brown, leather notebook playfully. Mari snatched it up, even though Chat appeared to only be kidding about trying to take it.

"Something like that. Hey, don't change the subject! I've been worrying, you know, and you can't pretend you aren't confused." She accused out of concern, and Chat widened his eyes. Marinette gave him a small smile, trying her best to be encouraging but not pressuring. "After all, you've been dealing with Hawkmoth for what, years now? You must be wondering about what you'll do next or if you should be using your abilities in a different city because someone might need you or if you should enlist in the military or if you should take a brake and consider your job done or if...oh my gosh I'm sorry. I'm sure you don't need me listing off your problems for you." Even though they were her problems too. Ladybug had kept her cool and retracted any of her nervous thoughts from public eye, including Chat Noir's.

He tilted his head back and laughed, good heartedly, with beats of innocence. "That's just it, Mari. I'm not pretending at all, I mean, I guess I would be concerned about that if I was alone." Chat Noir gave her an indulging smile, and Marinette felt for not the first time that she had no grasp on what he was thinking. "But I'm not. Whatever I do, I do it with Ladybug by my side. That's why I'm not worried." Marinette squirmed under his words, feeling as if the wind was pushing around her heart as wildly as her hair.

It scrambled in front of her face and pushed her pigtails past her ears. She snagged at her bangs and pulled the back, probably looking peculiar to Chat Noir, who's short hair flowed model-like. "But what, if you can't stay with Ladybug after this? Aren't you worried about everything changing?" Marinette let the words out almost like a confession.

Chat Noir started to say something, but Marinette shook her head to stop him. She dropped her hands and turned toward the wind so it blew the hair out of her eyes, causing her to squint. "I'm graduating this year, and I know you are too, from what little you've told me on these visits. Soon we'll be saying goodbye to friends and...maybe even family for a little while. Soon...we'll have to start over in new communities, at college or simply in a place without a daily schedule to go by. I'm scared that...I'll miss my friends too much." She crossed her arms, not quite sure why she was saying so much to him now. He surely, and neither did she, need a reminder that not only were their super lives changing, but their personal lives too.

"Marinette, I will never leave you."

She whipped herself around to stare at his serious, green, masked eyes. "What?" Did he know, had she given something away?

"Neither will your friends. They love you, and care for you very deeply, nothing with them is going to change." Chat Noir assured her with a warm smile, a feature of his that she'd noticed often lit up how truly strong he was. Behind, or rather, before being a flirt and a dork, he was brave and...selfless. "Life is full of changes, and it's going to be fun, just as much as scary. This is the time of our lives, and you can't spend it worrying about it." Chat grew excited and then serious, and then closer physically to her. She stared up at him, amazed by his words, until he raised his hand and poked her in the cheek. "Mari, I'm not leaving until you smile."

Marinette widened her eyes, but still a genuine smile graced her face. "Oh Chat, sometimes you just know the exact right things to say. Thank you." She breathed out and he nodded, stepping away.

"Now that my princess is cheerful again, I can rest soundly." He winked, causing her to roll her eyes, jokingly annoyed spare for the smile that hadn't yet left her face. She caught a glimpse of the moon rising up, and stepped for to lightly push Chat on the shoulder.

"Go on, kitty. It's past your bed time."

"Nah, I only sleep in cat-naps." He responded with a grin before vaulting off the roof, toward some unknown home in Paris. Marinette watched his figure curve up and down, getting smaller and smaller, until she lost sight of him.

She shivered for a moment under the wind, and then slipped into her room, shutting the entrance and basking in the peace. Marinette curled up on the edge of her bed, and Tikki flew out from beside her pillow. The kwami settled on her shoulder, but Marinette was too lost in thoughts to strike up conversation. 'I will never leave you,' he'd said. Although her heart was pounding from the declaration of loyalty, she knew with a bitter taste that...even if he meant that, it didn't mean her friends meant it.

They were all going to go their separate ways after high school and...drift apart? Forget...about each other? Alya, Nino, Nathaniel, Adrien, even...geeze even Chloe had become more bearable over their years of high school. Marinette guessed Chloe had just needed to mature a bit in the real world, because her snooty attitude eventually fell away, revealing the respectable, if annoying as hell, girl underneath. Alya and Marinette often went to the same parties over the past senior year, hanging out with the girls in their grade and expanding their friend horizon. She'd even gotten closer to Adrien and Nino, even if her crush on Adrien had withered after so much time unrealized.

Was...was all of that disappearing?

And what about her- Ladybug and Chat Noir. Marinette would be leaving Paris, heading to her school of choice, scholarship included. But Chat... 'Whatever I do, I do it with Ladybug by my side.' Marinette's lip quivered, and Tikki just barely leaned against her cheek before she pulled her knees up to her chest and burst into tears.

"Oh Marinette...this is just a part of growing up." Tikki soothed, flying across the room and back to grab a tissue. Marinette wiped away her tears, but they kept coming, and eventually she just buried her face in her hands.

"Tikki, did you hear what he said? He thinks I'm, he thinks I'm never going to leave him. But I have to go to New York! And- and, now I feel as if...as if I've betrayed him." The pit of hurt in her only grew with this new sensation, and a sick, twisted voice in her head reminded her...that she didn't have to do anything. She could always give up, since she was such a failure at this anyway. What did it matter, getting into college and defeating Hawkmoth, for both personas, it wouldn't matter if she ended up betraying the trust of everyone she cared about.

Marinette gave a quick shake of her head, and then threw her head up, spooking Tikki. The kwami exclaimed as Marinette gave her cheeks one simultaneous slap from both hands. "Marineeeeettttee!" She called and Marinette breathed in and out deeply.

"Sorry Tikki, I was just pulling myself together. I've seen it done in all the mangas, Nath sometimes sketches it in his." Marinette explained and Tikki flew up to her face to hug her nose. "Tikki..."

"Marinette...are you thinking about...that again?" Tikki asked gently, but firm.

Marinette opened her palms, and so her kwami could settle into them. She lightly stroked her head, but inevitably had to give her a rueful smile. "Not...as bad as last time...but still, yes. Don't get me wrong! I don't want to... not really. It's just...it's just there, ya know?" Marinette's tone was morose, and almost defeated.

Tikki grabbed hold of her thumbs and hugged them. Although their conversation made Marinette feel sick, she allowed herself to try convince herself that she was alright. That it would all be alright. Marinette held Tikki as she turned off the lights and climbed into her bed. Finally her Kwami headed to her pillow and fell asleep.

Marinette stared at her ceiling for hours, thinking about this and that and who and what, finally falling asleep sometime after midnight.

*Earlier*

"Plaaaaaaagggggg." Adrien groaned, falling onto his bed with a depressed ploof. The day had been difficult, sure, but taxing even more was the knowledge that he had to carry home after Ladybug and Chat Noir's press conference. His father was sitting by the fireplace when he got there, stripped of his powers, but not of his power.

Adrien hadn't known what to expect. A changed man, someone that would embrace him, his son, and try to start anew...as a family? Maybe he would get home and there would be a new person, in place of his father. Someone who actually loved him. Someone who'd open the curtains too wide and eat breakfast with him, hell maybe even make breakfast sometimes. As these thoughts had flooded Adrien's head, he ran home that afternoon, hoping for the first time.

What he found was a man, sitting by the fire place, who refused to talk. To him, to Natalie, to any of the phone calls or workers. Adrien even considered changing into Chat Noir at some point and pretending to break into the house, half a mind to just give him the damn miraculous if it would just get his father to talk to him.

He was scared out of his mind, that his father would...would be gone forever. Because, even if he'd done many horrible things, tried to hurt many people, he was still Adrien's father.

"Listen, kid...it's not unreasonable if you need to take a break." Plagg said, and Adrien shot up from the bed, to his knees. Plagg was acting serious, very serious, and almost...comforting. In the dim room that Adrien had blocked any light from, with the curtains taped shut and the lights mostly shut of, Plagg's eyes gave off a green glow. "You've done well so far kid, you can take off the ring for a bit, focus on normal life. The stupid press can wait." Plagg scoffed and Adrien softened his eyes on his kwami.

"You may have a horrible attitude sometimes, but you're my friend Plagg. I don't want to see you go." Adrien scratched behind Plagg's tiny ears, and the little kwami pretended it didn't feel nice.

Adrien stood up then, and began pacing around the room. It might be a good idea though, to take some time off in general. Surely Ladybug wouldn't mind, she'd mentioned before that she was a senior in high school, and that she needed to take extra care to her classes after spending so much time patrolling. "Except when you take a shower...you usually take it off then." Plagg quipped and Adrien let out an unexpected laugh, swiping for the kwami.

"Of course I take it off then Plagg!" Adrien quit his pacing and chased after the tiny black cat, who was cackling and flying out of Adrien's reach every time he got close.

Then, just as Plagg was about to up the challenge, Adrien's foot caught on a the edge of the white couch that faced the large, covered window. He face planted on the carpet, letting out a long groan, which broke out into a laugh after a few seconds. He rolled over and held his nose, realizing with a sort of joy that he didn't give a damn what happened to his nose. His father was downstairs, probably still sitting by the fireplace. Who knows if he'll even have to model anymore!?

"I broke my wielder...I wonder if Master Fu will let me have another." Plagg muttered, resting on Adrien's knee as the boy sat up.

"I'm getting too ahead of myself Plagg. We've finally defeated Hawkmoth and for once...nothing is certain." Adrien stood up and rubbed his nose a little bit more, sighing. He suddenly thought, and it was clear to him, that he didn't want to be alone. "Plagg, do you have enough energy to go out?" Adrien asked and the little kwami spun in the air lazily.

"I don't knoooooow kid."

Adrien shook his head fondly, searching around his room for a minute for the last bit of camembert. He chucked it to Plagg before pulling off the curtains to reveal an almost sunset sky. He popped open a window, leaning out with relief. The city smelled good to Adrien, a contrast to his room, and he grinned, knowing exactly who he was planning on visiting. But, he couldn't show up now, it'd be kinda creepy to randomly appear before sunset.

So he would go visit Marinette as Chat Noir, which actually wasn't that unusual for him. They met often, as Adrien found it was nice to be around her, especially as Chat Noir, since she wasn't so nervous that way. Adrien ran around his room and quickly scribbled a note down on a sticky-note, claiming that he was going to bed earlier due to an exam the next day, and stuck it outside his door. Hopefully that would deter Natalie, who was all for good grades.

"Alright Plagg, claws out!"