A/N: If you haven't read Chapter 8, I posted it minutes ago. I completely forgot to post it here (I'm simultaneously posting this on Tumblr).

Wondering Minds: The Epilogues

Part I: Vanished

Her life changed the instant it appeared. She was barely fourteen, trying to balance being a woman and a child. She had her girlfriends and was discovering the opposite sex. Going to school, hanging with friends. She even had guys talking to her. She was at the epitome of adolescence, and she felt like her life stopped. The ring had appeared out of thin air and it called to her. She accepted the call and her life was never the same.

It wasn't long after she met Plagg that she met him. Butterfly wasn't a manly name and it embarrassed him but she thought he was magnificent. His power was cool, too. The way butterflies seemed to flock to him. His power was graceful, poignant and beautiful. Her power was destruction, brutal and misfortune. Oddly, they complimented each other.

They spent hours talking on their nightly patrols for the threats of Paris. She desired to know who he was under the mask. He seemed just as interested. As the years passed and college loomed, she couldn't imagine leaving him behind. As they started their adult lives, would Cat Noir and Butterfly still be able to take on bad guys? He wasn't even sure if he'd return to Paris.

So she planned it all out. As they began their patrol, she struck up a conversation about the future. He was going to study fashion. He loved everything about it and confessed that she was one of his mental models. He asked her her plans and she willingly confessed to be heading to medical school. He boldly asked where she was going and revealed he'd be hundreds of miles apart from her. She asked him if he thought he could love her. He admitted he already did.

They didn't know each other from Adam. He was very handsome and he told her she was more beautiful than he could have ever imagined. She had a name for him now, Gabriel Agreste, and his Kwami partner was named Nooroo. She couldn't believe someone could love her so much, least of all Constance Jules. He did though, and he was ecstatic to meet Plagg.

It had been rough without Butterfly - Gabriel - but the years passed by anyhow. She talked to him daily, sometimes twice, but it wasn't the same. He told her of the connections he made and that he even got one of his designs on a catwalk. As she finished her clinic hours, he was designing entire shows. A lot of black and green went into his designs. He said it reminded him of her.

Connie finally got a partnership in a clinic in Paris. Paris was her home and that's where she wanted to be. Gabriel called her one evening and asked her to visit the louvre. On a huge billboard announced the partnership of a local fashion icon and the up and rising star. Gabriel Agreste was featured prominently. Butterfly and Cat Noir were back together at last.

They enjoyed each other's company, in or out of costume. Things moved fast. Plagg seemed to grow anxious. Gabriel and she started talking about their future. She wanted children and he did too. They talked about moving in with each other. Plagg seemed to obstruct their plans. It didn't stop Gabriel from planning the day, though, and Nooroo and Plagg were there when he asked her to marry him.

Plagg finally confessed why he had been standing in between the pair. There were rules to having a miraculous and having a family broke one. Nooroo explained how they had to do their jobs and marriage and children could come between that. Both Kwami apologized profusely but had hoped their relationship wouldn't be so serious. It devastated Connie and enraged Gabriel. They tried to move on. Gabriel and Connie broke up but every time Cat Noir and Butterfly were together, their love burned hotter. Two months after their botched engagement, Butterfly asked her if she still loved Gabriel. Her answer was an uncomplicated yes. Gabriel had hatched together a plan and she so eagerly conspired with him. They had a wedding, but they didn't tell their kwami. They moved in together but they didn't tell their Kwami. When Connie got pregnant, they didn't tell their Kwami.

Connie was so thankful it didn't take much to pacify Plagg. She bought him pounds upon pounds of Camembert and the cat didn't question why she didn't transform for an entire year. Whenever he seemed to pick up on something strange, she bought him more cheese. She spent a hundred dollars a month on cheese alone. Anything to make him forget something was wrong. Plagg had free reign of the east side of the house and Nooroo on the west. They planned everything, from family outings to doctor's appointments, around keeping their secret. Plagg was so easy to fool. Gabriel said Nooroo would pick up on something but he could talk his way out of it.

As her son Adrien got older, things got harder. Adrien didn't understand there were magical beings in his home and he couldn't be seen by either one of them. In home service was a must and the extra bodies made it easier to keep Plagg and Nooroo in their own sections of the house. When Adrien started school, it was too hard to coordinate a busy morning with keeping the Kwami from finding out. Gabriel suggested home schooling their son. Connie's life had never been so complicated, and she began to neglect Plagg. He started to miss her and asked to tag along. Family life got harder.

Connie considered confessing multiple times. She was tired. She was a wife, a mother, a superhero, and a doctor. She refused to neglect her son and tried to spend time with her husband. Connie asked Gabriel about fessing up. Gabriel was under strain too, unveiling his own private articles of clothing. He had to hire a personal assistant and the extra body in their life starting pulling them apart by the seams. They had less time as a family, his and Adrien's relationship strained and their duties as Butterfly and Cat Noir increased.

Adrien longed freedom when he reached the age of ten. He wanted to make friends outside of their home but Connie couldn't add the activity to the number of activities she juggled. By the age of eleven, he wanted to go to real school. She discussed it with Gabriel, but her husband feared Adrien would be at risk. He had two miraculous wielders as parents. It'd make him a huge target. Connie tried to keep him complacent but her little boy was growing up.

Connie remembered her best friend from school had a daughter Adrien's age. The two had drifted apart of course, but she reached out to her. Stella and her husband were getting divorced so her old friend thought it was a great idea to introduce Adrien to her daughter. Chloe and Adrien became good friends and her son never seemed happier.

Connie was hell-bent on giving Adrien social contact outside the home. The boy had no idea how to interact with kids his own age and Connie realized how much she neglected Adrien as a mother. She cut back her hours at the clinic and focused on being a mother and a superhero. Adrien and she grew closer, Connie remembering how much she wanted to be a mother. She slacked her hero duties to spend more time with Adrien. Without her diligence as a hero, a new enemy emerged.

Butterfly and Cat Noir earned a new enemy in the way of Leopard. He was strong, much stronger than she. Gabriel rescued her from more fights than she kept track of. He begged her not to go out alone. Her pride kept her going out. One night the fight got bad. Her luck combined with a well-placed kick sent her over the wall on a roof. She busted two ribs and was forced to sit out as Cat Noir. Without their daily outings, Plagg asked to tag along more. She wasn't sure when it happened, but the days ran together. Sometimes she was with Plagg, other times she was with Adrien. One day on her way home from the clinic, her arch-nemesis approached her as her real self.

The look in Leopard's eye. The way he put a finger on her ring. He had complimented her about it. All of it was terrifying. However, nothing stopped her heart more than him calling her kitten. She was a grown woman and Leopard never knew teenaged Cat Noir. But cats had kittens and she brought Adrien out a lot. Adrien was her kitten and Leopard told her he knew she had a weakness.

Connie felt sick. She was no match for Leopard. He was stronger, faster and luckier than she was. She had to distance herself from Adrien. Leopard wouldn't know Gabriel and Butterfly was stronger than Cat Noir. He could protect her little prince. She didn't know where she would go. She didn't know what she would do. She just knew she had to protect her son. One more sighting with Adrien and it could cost him his life. If she was right, he had only seen Adrien once. She went through her mind, trying to pinpoint where Leopard had seen Adrien. There were so many people she passed on a normal day. Without his costume, leopard could be anyone.

So she rushed home, preparing to leave the ring with Gabriel. He could use it to protect her little prince until he turned fourteen. Adrien could follow her footprints then and he could protect himself. She wasn't sure if Gabriel would approve. Never before had they had a reason to have this conversation and it was too late now. She thought about giving it to Adrien now. Could she explain to him how important it was to wait until he was old enough? Could he do it by himself?

She burst in the door, heaving as the weight came upon her. Gabriel had a big project coming up so she knew he'd be downstairs. Adrien should be in bed. Of course he wasn't, screaming as the door scared him. He was watching scary movies again. Connie looked at him, his too young face slightly too round. He was much too young to become Cat Noir.

So she cut the movie marathon short, tucking him into bed. She memorized his freckles, the feel of his skin, her bright green eyes he inherited. He was scared and she didn't want the last memory of her to be this. So she stayed with him longer than she planned, telling him stories and giving him advice. She stayed even after he fell asleep, telling him everything he'd go through that she'd miss. She gave him advice about girls, how to avoid peer pressure and asking him to be patient with his father. She didn't want to leave that bed's side. She didn't want to leave his side.

But eventually she had to go. Gabriel would be coming to bed and she didn't want him to walk in. He'd try to talk her out of it and it would be so easy for him to do it. She was almost talking herself out of it now. She entered her bedroom, Gabriel still in his office. Plagg must have seen her because he floated up to her even though this was a restricted area for him. A million thoughts raced through Connie's head. She'd miss her husband, she'd be broken in a million pieces without her son but the idea of leaving her Kwami would plunge the knife in her chest. She resolved herself, pulling the ring off her finger.

Plagg was immediately her Kwami again. He asked her what was wrong and tried to get her to talk. She couldn't even cry. Thoughts of her son being hurt because of her were the only thing she could think of. So she told Plagg there were no other alternatives and there was too much at stake. The cat was sucked inside the ring, looking just like it had when she'd found it more than twenty years ago. She placed it in her jewelry box and took nothing but the clothes on her back.

Every mile she walked, the more her heart ached for her to return. She quickly realized some of the ring's energy stayed with her. She came too close to a beggar's shelter one cold night. The woman was prepared to kill to keep her out of it and Connie was surprised she still had Cat Noir's strength. It helped her push further into France's small villages. She drew the attention of miraculous wielders, heroes and villains alike. Her knowledge helped her get what she needed from the heroes and her strength helped her stay safe from the villains.

She met a woman in Sudan who shared so many things in common with her. They were both cats and they both had little kids in difficult situations on their minds. So they talked. She had connections, as both a doctor and Gabriel Agreste's wife. She didn't need to explain how she knew them, only her vision. And slowly the Home for the Miraculous was born. After so many years of neglecting her son because she was a miraculous wielder, she imagined a place they could come and not be afraid of who they are.

Organizing the construction helped soothe the ache in her heart. She was thrilled to see the kids have somewhere to come. Even the Kwami were fun to have around and Connie thought she'd found a new home. It wasn't until her partner, Tabby, started talking about rules and structure that Connie felt suffocated. Tabby's Kwami, Lolla, was a part of some council of Kwami and she wanted to have their approval. Connie argued with Tabby, saying she wanted no part in this. When the older woman refused to cooperate, Connie picked herself up again. Tabby's friend, Crocodile, was the same.

Connie settled in Israel two years after being on the road. She knew every day that had passed, images of a young teenager with those baby doll eyes always on her mind. She missed him more and more every day. She built the second home for miraculous wielders and she refused any mention of restriction. She hid the home, going out and finding kids that were in trouble. The adult chaperones she found were screened thoroughly. She helped them find their place in the world and gave them a future they once thought impossible.

Her life was complete except for in one aspect.

It was three years and a day and she couldn't get Adrien out of her mind. She saw him in everyone she came around. Her ache to see him so strong she considered looking him up online. Surely they'd be a picture of him somewhere online if only on Facebook. Her phone rang and she didn't think anything of it. However a young man was searching for someone and he had thought it might be her. He pleaded with her, even telling her the stranger was her son and he was in trouble. Connie believed him for half a second but guarded her heart, telling him to not call her again. Not even half a day later another young man was looking for her, and Connie was beyond annoyed.

She tried to get rid of this boy. He knew her real name but he also knew Plagg. To throw him off she asked him to come to the French Embassy. Surprisingly, it wouldn't be a problem for him. The boy was very determined and Connie felt maybe he deserved a word with her. She couldn't allow him to come to her so she kept their appointment at the embassy.

When she arrived, she found someone was already waiting on her. She was directed to the room where he was only to find two. They were miraculous wielders themselves. In fact, the boy, whom she assumed contacted her, was Cat Noir. She felt anger. How dare they come here and rub her own alias in her face. That suit was hers. Plagg was her Kwami. The longing look Cat Noir gave her was even worse.

Connie went on the defensive. If they would try to convince her that Adrien was looking for her, they'd better be good. Her heart couldn't take it. It had been three years and a day and she was tired. She wanted to get this started. She actually wanted to get it over with. So she started the conversation, letting them know in fact that she knew who he was at least. However, he didn't speak. He seemed shell shocked, unable to move.

His companion filled in the blanks. They needed her to pass the miraculous down to him officially. She couldn't understand what they meant by that. She wanted to know how he got the stone to begin with.

The girl, Ladybug, had asked Cat Noir if he could do this. If he wanted her there. Connie was so confused until he began to talk. He explained they knew each other and three years ago and a day was the last time they'd been together. When he mentioned movies and being strong in the face of fear, Connie couldn't help it. Her eyes widened until they wouldn't widen anymore and filled with tears until they spilt over her cheeks.

It was her little prince. It was her Adrien. She enveloped him in a hug and he collapsed, crying so hard she broke. She thought she missed him more than anyone could miss anyone. Here, with him in her arms, she realized how wrong she was. She had left him and apparently he had felt that crushing weight for too long. She tried to say his name, desperate to hear it spoken aloud and have it be responded to. Adrien cut her off, through his own choking sobs, explaining Ladybug didn't know who he was.

She went for the next best thing. He responded to her little prince and she knew without a doubt it was him.

He begged her to come home. He promised he could protect her. He promised Ladybug and he could protect her. The look in Ladybug's eyes put her mind at ease. She didn't care for herself but he had his own miraculous and a partner that would have his back. Connie agreed to come home.

Listening to her little prince and then hearing how her Gabriel shut him down convinced Connie she had made the wrong choice. Maybe she should have taken him with her. Maybe she should have confessed to Plagg about Gabriel and Adrien. She should have done something, anything, besides leave him alone in that house. Despite Gabriel's harsh words and promise of punishments Adrien couldn't conceive, Connie knew she'd protect Adrien. One look at her Papillion and she would have him like butter in her hands.

Connie looked to Ladybug, her discussing something over a phone. She must have run away too, and she did it solely to help her partner find his mother. Connie knew Adrien was in good hands. Whatever Ladybug's powers were, she knew they'd compliment nicely to Adrien's weaknesses. When the plane touched down, Ladybug let she and Adrien go first. She promised him she'd tell him her secret identity after the next akuma, whatever that was, and he seemed to be placated by that. Connie wondered what they were going to do. Her little prince seemed to have a plan though so she let him lead.

She had barely made it to the waiting area when Adrien pushed her behind him. Someone was talking and it reminded her of someone. Adrien called for Ladybug and they prepared for a fight. As she listened to the voice, even though there was a darkness to it, she recognized it. She had to see for herself and bolted around Ladybug. It was him. Even as she questioned the very thought of it, she knew it was him. He recognized her too.

Connie couldn't understand. This was their son and his partner. Why was Gabriel threatening them? For crying out loud they were miraculous wielders and she refused to believe they were villains. That only left one possible answer and Connie couldn't wrap her mind around it. Her Papillion was a villain.

Adrien dropped his baton, begging her to tell him it wasn't true. Gabriel hadn't told Adrien a thing. He still pretended they were normal and Adrien was allowed to become Cat Noir alone. Well, not entirely. He had Ladybug.

Speaking of Ladybug, someone had called out to her. Connie turned to her son's partner to see thousands of lights surround her and Adrien. Connie had no idea what was happening or what to do. She turned to Gabriel, he just as confused as her. When the lights faded, Connie stared in shock as her very recognizable son and his partner dropped out of costume. There were probably fifty people in the room alone and her son was unmasked.

Adrien seemed to come to first, starring in wide eyes at his partner. This was the first he'd seen her and she wondered what was going through his mind. It was very surreal when you meet the person behind the mask for the first time. Ladybug, a pretty girl with black hair and blue eyes, seemed unaware what had happened. She reached for something but realized she was unmasked too late.

Her son called her Marinette. Connie wondered if he knew her name or if he recognized her. Ladybug turned to him, such heartbreak and disappointment that Connie's heart broke for her. However, as soon as she took in Adrien, his name was falling off her lips in recognition. They knew each other. They were partners but knew each other in real life.

They seemed wrapped up in the unmasking but Adrien became panicked. He was looking for Plagg. Marinette pointed out that the ring was gone. Their miraculouses were gone which meant their Kwami were gone.

Connie knew that feeling. Adrien straight up freaked, searching the floor as if he had simply lost it. Marinette's Kwami was named Tikki and she was gone too. Adrien's heartbreak and panic changed to rage too fast for her to positively identify it in time. Before she could react, Adrien had punched his father. She and these two civilians grabbed him and the two seemed to know him. Marinette was comforting him in seconds, her own grief being pushed back for his. Connie recognized it a mile away. Her son and Ladybug were in love.

Connie was reminded her entire family was in shambles when she heard Gabriel speak. He powered down, unmasking himself as well. What was she going to do? This was all her fault. None of this would be happening of it weren't for her. She tried to console Gabriel but it riled up Adrien and there was just nothing anyone could do for Adrien. She wanted to think of some way to get Plagg back. She wanted her Kwami back herself, but the look in Adrien's eyes made her determined to do so.

It turned out the couple that helped her console Adrien was Marinette's parents. The two were apparently very close and the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. The kids wanted to go back to the Middle East, Sudan to be exact, and get reinforcements. First, though, they were paying a visit to a man named Master Fu. Marinette's parents were trying to catch up and they asked how they became miraculous wielders. Actually, they knew their hero names. Apparently, they were famous superheroes. Her son was already taking her powers so much further than she could.

So Connie thought she'd ease the tension a bit and explain how Cat Noir used to be her. She started to explain but she felt Adrien tense up. It didn't take long for him to go off, his voice bitter and sounding offended. There was a lot of tension between her boys and she was entirely to blame. She hadn't meant to upset him even more.

Adrien and Gabriel were both going through internal turmoil and she didn't know who was more upset. She had made a real fine mess of her family.

Inside Master Fu's cabin, they learned there wasn't really anything he could do. However, he brought up her past experience with the Kwami and a plan hatched. He was old. Connie knew as soon as he relinquished his Kwami, he would be gone. Gabriel seemed to learn this over the years as well. The kids had no idea, though. Connie hated putting them through this but Master Fu was right. The best gift he could give was another ally. At his age, just being alive drained the little kwami. Transforming would deplete its energy alone, much less a special attack.

And just as quickly as Connie had escaped the life of a miraculous wielder, she was thrust back in. It made her think what it was all for. In Sudan, she got her answer. She had not seen the two fight. Their confrontation with Butterfly (who apparently went by Hawkmoth for some reason) ended abruptly. In Sudan, they had achieved a portal to the kwami's homeland and her son had armed himself with a broom. He was physically fit she observed and quite skilled. That wasn't what caught her attention though.

He had phenomenally better luck than she did.

He commanded that power with a force she had never seen before and his ability to make the best of a bad situation was incredible. Then the dynamic of he and Marinette had Connie excited to see the two in costume. If they worked so well, understanding the other's movements so well out of costume, she just had to see these two together.

And it happened. Marinette convinced Adrien he had it inside him. She convinced him he was Cat Noir with or without Plagg. And he summoned his cataclysm. As Adrien, out of costume without a miraculous in sight. She knew the energy transferred over but this was beyond her wildest dreams. At this point, Connie didn't know who she was more impressed with. Adrien was incredible but Marinette... Well, that girl was phenomenal. Her parents should be so proud.

The moment finally came that she got to see her little boy in action. He had his own battle cry and so did Marinette Connie learned when the girl found her miraculous. Standing together, the two demanded attention. Paris had never been in safer hands. Connie was proud of both her babies. She already loved Marinette (and approved. God, yes, marry this girl!).

Her husband almost ruined the moment summing up their dynamic perfectly but she elbowed him anyway, reminded he was their villain. She had yet to address that.

Plagg and Marinette's Kwami were safely returned and they could go home. She had a lot to straighten out at home, but for the moment she was just pleased to have her son back. Somehow, she had the feeling she had Marinette to thank for that.

A/N: This is the first part of the epilogues. Gabriel's will be next. I hope you enjoyed. Feedback welcome!

Mada