A few notes before we start:
fReAKiNG fINaLLy.
It's done.
Okay, keep in mind that nothing you are about to read is canon, I haven't seen the Origin episodes yet, so it takes place in an entirely different universe, hahahaa (like all fanfictions do….). I promise I have no clue what Adrien's mother is actually named. XD
I'm so honored to have all of the followers of this story that I do! 3 You make me blush. :3
Thank you a billion times over for dreamwips (tumblr) who beta-readed for me on some chapters and gave me some feedback - AND HELPED ME FINISH THIS LAST CHAPTER- HONESTLY IT WAS SO HARD.
And thank you chapelseed (tumblr) for giving me the idea on what to name the Butterfly Kwami. :)
The large group of Parisians woke up from the ground before Notre Dame disoriented and confused, but feeling considerably lighter in their hearts compared to how they'd felt only a few minutes earlier. But what they woke up to see was something no one had expected.
A new family of four, hugging each other tightly atop Notre Dame, laughing with tears in their eyes and over their cheeks.
Mrs. Agreste was back, and so were the two missing teenagers of Paris. And to top it all off, Mr. Agreste was smiling again.
The explanation was strange but no one would doubt the word of the three 'victims'. (though there was one blogger who was suspicious but chose to keep her opinions to herself) The being known as Hawkmoth who had turned countless Parisians into villains to fight for him had been defeated and dissolved away with his magic. Ladybug and Chat Noir had finally prevailed against him permanently, and had rescued the two teenagers and Mrs. Agreste who had been captured by the being years ago. The details were fuzzy as to why, something about giving him energy, but no one wanted to press Mrs. Agreste too much anyways, as she'd obviously been through a lot, despite her foggy memory of the events.
The Dupain-Chengs were overjoyed to have their daughter returned, and were quite happy to pull Adrien into their group hug as well, just as relieved that he was safe as well. Their friends bombarded them with hugs and tears, and Adrien could honestly say that he'd never felt so loved in his entire life. To the outside world it seemed the danger had passed and everything had returned to a quieter but happier state. And it was. But at the same time, it was a whole new story to the four humans who knew more than the rest.
"Alright. Let's start by an introduction!" Collette Agreste said with a smile as she sat in the chair before Adrien and Marinette, Gabriel beside her.
He still was stern, and it was rare to see him laugh, but there was something different about him now. His smiles were genuine, his quiet voice was warmer now, and it was apparent that he felt awful about what had happened.
"This is my Kwami, Biaant. She's still weak but she's alive..." Collette said softly, and the two teenagers bent over her palm to look at the little purple kwami with butterfly wings, curled up and sleeping.
"I haven't seen her in years." Plagg sighed as he and Tikki hovered near their heads, looking at the little butterfly Kwami in interest.
"No one has seen either of us for a long time..." Mrs. Agreste said, smiling kindly to Adrien who looked nervous. This was the first time since everything had calmed down and the press had left them alone that they'd been able to sit and talk together. It had only been two days, but it was torture for the teenagers who wanted to know what exactly was going on.
"So are you a superhero like us?" Adrien asked, and Collette tucked her Kwami safely back into the folds of her scarf.
"Yes but... not exactly like you. I was working alone, and I didn't have to do nearly as dangerous of missions as you do..." she sounded a little worried at this, and Marinette shrugged.
"What were you fighting if there wasn't any Akumas to fight?" Adrien asked, and Tikki laughed lightly,
"There were still Akumas to fight! But... not fight exactly... They happen naturally!"
"What?" Marinette narrowed her eyes.
"You mean we're not released from hero duty? Good, I would have missed that." Adrien sighed in relief and Marinette elbowed him.
"You shouldn't want akumas to happen!"
"Yeah, but it's the only time I got to see you..."
"Well you're going to get to see me all the time now." she laughed, pushing his shoulder a little bit and he shrugged.
"It's fun fighting with you too though! We're a good team."
"Thanks Adrien, I think so too..." she responded shyly, smiling as her cheeks turned pink.
"Okay- cheese later- ha cheese- anyways, Akumas do happen naturally, it's them turning into super villains and trying to steal the miraculouses that's unnatural." Plagg said, coming between Adrien and Marinette who were giving each other 'love stupid' eyes again.
Gabriel fidgeted in his seat in uncomfortable way and Collete's hand rested on his knee.
"You know when you get angry or upset? That's an Akuma inside of you. They're naturally a part of you, don't worry!" Collette added the last part when she saw the alarmed look on the teenager's faces. "It's only dangerous when you start to let the Akuma control you, when you let your emotions get out of hand."
"You mean they're not butterflies- ugh- I don't like the idea of one growing inside of me..." Marinette groaned, rubbing her heart.
"I know- it's a little strange. But consider this, those feelings, the Akuma's, they are important for us to survive! Self preservation, adrenaline that keeps us moving forward, outrage when it's needed to fix wrongs... if we didn't have those feelings, nothing important or good could happen to us! It's not some foreign being inside of you, it is literally part of who you are! It's not a physical thing... it's... an emotional thing. We call it an 'Akuma' like it's an object, but it's really just a kind of magic that holds a person's personality together. It's strange to call it magic... when it's just human nature."
"So explain what happens when they- the feelings- get out of hand- like- really out of hand where Miraculous holders have to step in." Adrien asked, and Marinette nodded.
"That's when people start doing bad things! Their emotions completely take over and crimes start to happen!" Tikki said, and Plagg smiled.
"Chat Noir and Ladybug are only needed once in awhile... when the Akumas are so strong that the magic starts to go funny. Like in these past years! This whole Hawkmoth fiasco was the result of a strong Akuma and the unfortunate possession of a miraculous!" the small black Kwami said, and Adrien tried not to glance at his father who still hadn't said anything.
"My job, as a Miraculous Holder, was to track down those who were feeling those uncommonly strong feelings of negativity, my Kwami can sense them. Then, Biaant and I transform together and I enter a person's mind and talk them through it! Hawkmoth had a similar power, though he could only possess a person's mind mentally, while still holding a physical form." Collette said, and Adrien's eyes widened.
"Y-You mean you disappear completely when you go into someone's mind?!"
She nodded with a smile.
"Is that why you were gone?" Marinette asked softly, and the tired looking woman nodded again.
"Do you want to tell them what happened, Mon coeur?" she asked, who turned her head to face Gabriel. The man swallowed hard. He shifted in his chair uncomfortably and then folded his arms and said quietly,
"If you'd like me to."
"I think you should be able to say something. I'd hate to tell a story for you when you're sitting right there." Collette said, moving her hand over his so that she could thumb over it softly.
"Alright then." he said professionally, but they could all tell he was nervous. "It was that night she disappeared, Adrien. You'd gone to bed early, and we were talking about putting you into the public school. We were both unsure, but Collette seemed much more agitated than I did..." he glanced over at his son, who made a face and his mother laughed.
"Adrien, I'm sorry, but with all the people I've had to mentally coax from committing crimes, it was natural for me to be nervous about letting you go outside, you'll have to forgive me, I know you're more than capable now." He shrugged and his father then continued on.
"You have to know that your mother hadn't told me she had a Miraculous, or anything like that. So after we'd argued about schooling, and then she suddenly told me she had to leave, I was nervous. She'd been so worked up over it and then she had to leave immediately? I am ashamed to say I was untrusting enough to follow her out of the mansion. I hadn't known she was leaving to go stop someone from committing murder-"
"W-Woah wait- I'm sorry, but I need to understand this!" Marinette interrupted, looking panicked. "If you can talk someone down from murder, and I mean, if Miraculous holders can prevent murder... than why does it still happen?"
Tikki, Plagg, and Collette all sighed in an almost depressed way. Then Tikki floated over to Marinette and put a hand on her cheek saying,
"I know it's hard to hear, but the only Akuma's we fight are ones that are emotions that grow out of control quickly. They're fueled by sudden bursts of anger or sadness... but the ones that develop over time is something we have no control over. That isn't an out of control Akuma. That's a human who has talked themselves into committing a crime. Those people have chosen to become that. And what they do is purely up to them and, something fate does not want us to change. That being said, there are also out of control Akumas that we aren't notified about and cannot stop because we're not meant to stop it. Bad things happen in life, it's natural and a critical part of everyone's life. We can't fix everything and that's okay." the little Kwami tried hard to explain to the girl who looked a little upset but still nodded, even if a little uncertain.
"Yeah- I mean, Adrien has an Akuma growing unnaturally inside of him, but I couldn't do anything about it." Plagg said, and immediately looked away nervously and coughed as if he hadn't said anything.
"What?!" Adrien cried, his eyes wide and panicked, and Plagg patted him on the nose saying,
"Don't stress Adrien, I've been keeping tabs on you, you're gonna be fine! Uh- Can- can we go back to the story?"
The teenager gave Plagg a very strong, "we are DEFINITELY going to talk about this later" face, and then turned back to look at his father, considerably more uncomfortable than he had been a few seconds ago.
"Well as I was saying... I didn't know my wife was going to talk someone out of murder. So when I arrived unexpectedly to see her transform and about to enter into this crazed man's mind... I..." Gabriel looked hopelessly at his wife, begging her to pick up the story. She squeezed his hand carefully and continued on for him.
"I had to explain to him what was going on. I tried to explain to him that I was one of the Miraculous holders, the heroes that protect this world. It's not a new subject, but it's a mysterious one. I tried to tell him I was going to 'fix the man' and 'make him better', but when I was trying to explain it to him..." she choked, and Gabriel shut his eyes tight, his lips pursed so that it looked like he refused to finish her sentence. "The man was scared... his akuma was erratic, especially since he was being driven to thoughts of murder. He attacked me with his knife, and then he ran away." Collette said quietly, and the silence was so thick and full of tension, Marinette had to look to see how Adrien was taking it all. His teeth were grit and he was gripping the chair he was sitting in, but he looked like he was holding himself in okay.
"I was hurt of course, I was bleeding badly, and I was trying to tell Gabriel I'd survive when I turned back to a civilian, you know how the magic works... but... he was so upset... There was an akuma taking him over and I tried to help him."
"She tried to enter my mind at the same moment I took her Miraculous. I kept remembering how she'd said her Miraculous could 'fix people'... I thought I could do it for her."
"Him taking the Miraculous that he was never supposed to own, along with his erratic Akuma, all turned out to react quite badly." Tikki said, and Collette added,
"I was stuck in a kind of limbo state for years. I could see everything though. I saw him go home, completely overtaken and corrupted into a kind of super villain. His outward self was cold and cruel, and his double life was simply bent on capturing your Miraculous."
"I remember believing that if I had their Miraculouses I would be happy. I often translated that to having ultimate power, but it was really because I subconsciously thought that if I owned them I could bring my wife back. I didn't know that the entire time, all I needed to do was let go of the Miraculous... not just physically, like you can with your earrings and ring. But mentally as well. I'm sorry for all the pain I caused you, Adrien. If Plagg is right about an Akuma growing inside you, it's probably because of me."
"It's okay dad. You were being protective of me... I could see that. And even though some of the things were over the top, I forgive you now...It wasn't really you." Adrien said quietly as he smiled.
"Ah, see! I can feel the Akuma shrinking already!" Plagg said happily, and Adrien looked down to see the Kwami pressing his ear against Adrien's heart.
"You're going to make me smell like cheese, Plagg..." Adrien laughed, scratching the top of the Black Kwami's head.
Chat Noir tackled the robber from behind as Ladybug snatched the Tourist's stolen purse from the man, smiling at the scene.
"Nice try." she said slyly, slinging the bag over her arm.
"Ah, My Lady- that purse goes quite well with your outfit." Chat commented as she twirled a little and he tied the man's hands together behind his back.
"Thank you mon Minou! I should really get one like it." Ladybug said happily, dodging the robbers kick aimed towards her feet.
"Most definitely. Are the police here yet?"
"I think they're just around the corner."
Ladybug led the way as Chat pushed the man forward, and they came out into the street to see cop cars and the press.
Soon the criminal was handed over to the police and Ladybug returned the bag to the grateful tourist.
"Ladybug- Chat Noir- do you think there will be anymore super-"
"We've answered this already-" Chat Noir began (check the FAQ PLZ) and Ladybug finished with,
"About 100 times! No, there should not be anymore super villains. The only people we're fighting now are criminals."
"This is important to remember though, because Ladybug's cure can't fix everything anymore..." Chat continued, and then Ladybug waved the reporters away, turning to face other ones.
"However, this means that if we don't use our powers... there's more time for interviews!" she said happily and he nodded.
"Yeah, except for I have a date in about ten minutes." Chat said cheekily and she smiled.
"Oh really kitty? I do too, I guess we both have to go."
"Are you two dating?"
They both looked at the reporter with bored expressions and Chat stuck out his tongue. Ladybug only answered,
"Listen, we're super heroes, not celebrities. We're not ones for tabloids."
Then laughing, Ladybug looped arms with Chat who unknown to her, nodded secretly at the reporters like the happy cat that he was, before he saluted and leapt away with her.
"I almost regret telling them we have more time for interviews..." Marinette sighed as she punched the video game buttons, half sitting on Adrien's lap who looked far from serene as he desperately tried to beat the cool headed girl playing against him.
"Welcome to the celebrity life." Adrien said under his breath as his thumbs moved furiously.
'If it was just Ladybug it would be fine, but now both of my lives are being stalked by the media thanks to you." she sighed, barely batting an eyelash as she pounded Adrien's character to dust and got a highscore simultaneously.
"Uuuuugh..." he groaned, and she laughed maliciously, tossing the controller to the side. Then he looked down at her with a sad kind of smile and said,
"I'm sorry. You'd think they'd leave models alone, they usually just pick on actors and people like that."
"Well Chloe is worse than all of them put together, and I can handle her just fine." Marinette sighed happily, and he frowned harder. Then he broke into laughter, shaking his head at the thought of the class finding out they were dating.
"ADRIEN! YOU'RE BACK!"
"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks Chloe-"
"CHAT NOIR TOLD ME A HORRIBLE LIE."
"What?"
"HE TOLD ME YOU WERE TAKING MARINETTE TO THE DANCE."
Adrien had stared at Chloe, then down at the hand of Marinette that he was clearly holding. Then back up at Chloe.
"Yeah, we're kind of a thing..."
"WHAT FROM BEING LOCKED UP TOGETHER? You just went through a traumatic experience and decided you were into each other- it's a mental condition- I DID RESEARCH ON IT-or well Sabrina did- BUT STILL-"
"Chloe, Marinette and I were flirting with each other for a long time now. I appreciate your concern, thank you." And he'd pulled Marinette straight past the offended gasping girl, trying to hold back his smirk as Marinette stuttered some nonsense with red cheeks.
"Hey, Adrien?" Marinette said, breaking his thoughts as he looked back down at her with raised eyebrows.
"Yes?"
"I wanted to talk to you about all of this identity stuff."
"Again? Okay." he said, smiling.
They'd awkwardly been dancing around the topic, mostly laughing at the ridiculous moments they'd had together, (Marinette's personal favorite was how he'd thrown his shoe into a classroom to make everyone think he'd been kidnapped by the Akuma). But sometimes it was more serious, where they expressed their fears and insecurities, and were both seeking reassurance although they didn't straight out ask for it.
"I just wanted you to know that... You're the same person to me." Marinette said, smiling at him. He shrugged and said with a smile back,
"I know... you are too."
"Yeah but it was harder for me to get there than it was for you."
"That's okay. I get it."
"You're really okay with that? I was worried you wouldn't like both sides of me... I don't know what it was like for you." Marinette said, twisting her hands together.
"To be perfectly honest, I was just flattered that the boy I would have been jealous of, was in fact, myself." Adrien said with a very Chat like smile and she grinned, biting her lip.
"Okay... I love both sides of you very much. I wanted you to know that it doesn't feel like two sides anymore... Even though you tend to keep the puns for the costume- which I am VERY grateful for." She turned her head away with a sigh.
"Hmm..." Adrien tapped his chin thoughtfully and Marinette attacked him with a pillow, laughing and scolding him as he raised his arms to protect himself, laughing as well.
Plagg frowned at them from the pillow he was lounging on, curled up beside Tikki who was in a cookie coma, but they were too distracted to notice.
Downstairs in Marinette's livingroom, their parents stopped chatting for a moment and smiled, the laughter reaching their ears.
Finally, everyone was smiling again.
