I have started on writing the end of the fanfic, so it's coming closer and closer. Only a few more chapters to go! I hope you like this one. It was written in a bit of a rush, 'cause I felt guilty leaving you hanging like that. I hope you enjoy!

Well, Adrien thought, I was right. Today certainly was memorable.

"But- but do you like me at all, Marinette?"

Marinette was still standing there, still looking small and unsure; she was completely silent. He had seen the girl in front of him be feisty and strong, but never in front of him.

Was that his fault? Was he just trying so hard to make friends that he scared people like Marinette? Did she think he was being too desperate in his search for a true family?

You'll never be enough, Adrien. No matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, you'll never be enough.

He looked down at the floor, trying to squash all the black memories inside of him. All the grey, lifeless memories of his family now, after his mother had left. In reality, Adrien supposed, his one chance at a true family had disappeared the same night that his mother had.

"Adrien, I-"

"No. Y-y-you know what, I d-don't want to know. I- can't know. And- and I won't intrude upon you any more than necessary. Please excuse me." The last part was only a whisper as Adrien pushed past Marinette and hurried down the stairs as fast as he could.

He grabbed his satchel from the kitchen floor, but his eyes were blurry from tears. When he pulled, the bag opened and spilled all over the floor, all of his books and paper and the little things he simply couldn't let go of. Plagg zoomed out of wherever he had been hiding and started whispering worriedly. What going on, kid? Are you all right? Did something happen? Adrien ignored him, and shoved him into the bag, next to Camambert cheese. He reached down and scooped as much as he could back into the bag, not caring if he missed something, and pushed himself out of the back door.

Coming down the street towards him, holding hands and laughing as if they had stolen all the happiness from Adrien world and were now flaunting it in front of him, Sabine and Tom were walking up the street, towards the bakery. Adrien pushed his head down, hoping that they wouldn't notice him- they weren't his family anyway, why would they even care?- but Tom saw and detached himself from Sabine, following Adrien with a worried look on his face. What on earth was going on with that boy? He wondered. Half the time he seemed nearly delirious with happiness; other times- like now- it was as if Adrien's one dream, his one love had been destroyed in front of his eyes. Goodness, the boy was more dramatic that Sabine and Marinette put together!

"Adrien, slow down, I'm too old to keep running after you!" Tom called, trying to inject as much laughter into his voice as possible. He saw Adrien hesitate then bolt away even faster, his head down and his shoulders hunched as if walking through cold wind. The shining sun only seemed to mock them.

With one huge effort, Tom caught up to Adrien, grabbing his shoulder so that he couldn't cross the street. "Come sit down." he said, leading to a park bench nearby.

"Just tell me what happened."

Adrien stayed stubbornly silent.

"Adrien, please. I can't help you if you won't talk to me."

Still nothing. No answer.

"Look, I can't help you if you wont talk to me, son, and-"

"No!"

Tom looked at Adrien in shock. "What's the matter, son?" He asked, as calmly and quietly as he could.

"I-I-I'm n-not your s-s-s-son." Adrien replied. A tear traced down his cheek. Then another. And another.

Tom reached an arm around Adrien shoulders. He could feel how tense the boy was; as if they boy in front of him was so full that he was just about to explode. "Adrien, it doesn't matter that you're not really my child. Because I've heard from Marinette and from Sabine that your real father is a piece of sh- that is to say, he doesn't do a very good job raising you. And because Marinette is your friend and she loves you, I see no reason why I can't be your father instead of Gabriel Agreste."

"Marinette doesn't love me." Adrien murmured to his shoes.

"What? Of course she does. She has for ages."

"No. I asked her. Just then. Just today. I thought- I thought, if Marinette loved me, and I loved her, then maybe I could really be a part of your family. I could- I could have a real family. But she doesn't. And I can't. So it meant nothing. It means nothing. It doesn't matter. I don't matter."

"Of course you matter! You're a brilliant boy, and you're so polite and nice I'm sure anyone you meet would be happy to be your friend."

"But no one needs me. I mean, not really. Not as much as I need them. Marinette might love me, but she has Alya, and Nino, and you and Sabine. If I leave, then it doesn't matter to her. But I love Marinette so much- I love her more than anything."

I love her more than Ladybug. But she doesn't love me back. Who would, really? You're just dreaming Adrien. All you ever do is just dream, and fantasise, and make things up. Because you know, deep down, that none it it is real. Probably ever was real. Isn't that right?

Tom looked down at Adrien; his face was filled with worry. Adrien felt as if he were a snake, or a rabid dog- As if Tom wanted to love him, but Adrien was just… too wrong to be loved. Too different. Too strange. Suddenly, Adrien felt angry. How dare this man take pity on him when he had a family, and real love, and all the things that Adrien had had stolen from him? How dare he try and comfort him? He had no idea what got was like to have no family at all.

Inside the satchel, something shined. Plagg was pushing up something from the bottom of the bag, frantically signing to Adrien. What did he want? He had never liked Adrien. He never knew what it was like to have the most important thing in your life disappear. All Plagg needed to be okay was cheese.

Careful to remain out of sight, Plagg pushed the shining thing out of the satchel and into Adrien's lap. It was the bracelet Marinette had given to him before he and Ladybug had battled The Gamer. Adrien held it up, rolling each individual bead between his fingers. Looking back, perhaps that was the day he had first decided to make the Dupain-Chengs his real family. When Tom and Sabine had made croissants, and spied on him and Marinette until Adrien thought he might explode with all the laughter inside him, when he and Marinette had fought (well, not really fought. He was no match for Marinette) in the video gamed Adrien had felt strangely annoyed when the akuma had arrived when it was just he and Marinette in the park next door.

Adrien clenched his fist until he felt the beads bite into his skin. He hoped that they would tear his skin, that they would make him bleed just as Marinette had done when she tore his heart out.

He heard the tell-tale flap of an akuma's wings coming towards him. Good. He would spit families apart. He would tear parent from children, partner from partner, sibling from sibling. Then every one would feel how he felt. No one would pity Adrien again!

Adrien opened his hand and the little purple butterfly landed there. He watched as it folded itself into Marinette's bracelet, He felt the evil absorb into his skin, the adrenaline that came from-

"No!"

Tom snatched the bracelet from Adrien's hand, and seemed to rip all the emotions out of him as well, leaving only guilt and horror as Tom whispered "Yes, Hawkmoth." And purple bubbles coated his body, growing larger and larger until a huge, monstrous man stood in front of him with an evil smile like Cheshire Cat and Tom's eyes, usually smiling, glinting with menace and evil.