Farewell
The wake up call arrived before the morning. The guide took it as her responsibility to have everyone on their feet while the large room was still in the dark.
"Wrap up your sleeping bags, change and pack up your backpacks." She was issuing orders while she strolled between the students with her flash light. Students were in random states of preparedness, few of them changed quickly and went to grab something for breakfast, but forgot to wrap up their sleeping bags or pack, others were obediently packing or went to the bathroom to change, few have slept in their clothes and had just the sleeping bag to wrap up. One of them was Ling who either slept, or more likely, pretended to be asleep.
Marinette and Adrien were quick because they chose to put the wet gear over their onesies and wrap up their bag so bot young teens were ready for breakfast while Ling was still ine her sleeping bag and Ye disappeared towards the bathroom.
"Come on Ling" Marinette was trying to wake up her cousin while Adrien was wrapping their sleeping bag. There was no response. "Wake up. We have to go" She nudged the other girl lightly on the shoulder and got a groan in response.
"We have to get some breakfast." Marinette continued.
"You can go, I am awake." The older teen mumbled and turned around.
"We have to go, Marinette." Adrien whispered to her ear.
"You go and say your goodbyes to all the monks for me." Ling muttered sleepily and Marinette finally jumped to her feet.
"Do not forget, you have to eat before you go. No sleeping in." The guide reminded from somewhere in the middle of the large room.
Two young teens went to fetch their breakfast. They were about to walk the whole day and knew better than to start hungry. There was some fried pastry as well as noodles and rice and young people were not counting their calories, especially since they were facing a huge physical effort and were not certain how much food will they eat before the evening.
Adrien had different worries. He took the food and ate quickly, but his brain was somewhere else. How was he to sneak out and see his mother (or what was left of her). His bowl was empty and he stared in the empty space before him.
Marinette quickly formed an excuse that she will take him to thank 'those two monks' who helped them and perhaps persuade them to use 'the modern communication technologies' to continue their communication in the future.
Ling just arrived to breakfast and returned a raised eyebrow while Ye simply waved them away and returned to his food. It was too early for anyone to notice anything odd.
"Your loss, you will be hungry." The boy replied after he swallowed his food.
Adrien quickly got to his feet and took the empty bowl to dispose it while Marinette have not finished the food she got so she was eating and walking when they finally ran into Dorje and Pema in the corridor towards the kitchen.
"Good morning, we have an early morning meeting for you." Pema greeted as she was trying to be cheerful. Dorje did not hide a gloomy shade from his face.
"I thought you two were to wake us up early for this." Adrien smiled sheepishly after the morning greetings.
"I made the most stupid excuse and we left from breakfast." Marinette added as she looked at the two monks.
"It was not stupid, they should learn how to use a phone, we might need them." Adrien cut in as he watched Marinette.
Both monks looked at them then at each other and there were several different emotions exchanged in their facial expressions. Pema raised an eyebrow and smirked. Dorje huffed and rolled his eyes, but both of them kept silent. This was obviously a subject they discussed before.
"Don't worry, we will." Pema said with a smile.
"One day." Dorje added with a smirk.
"Soon." She stared him down, which was silly because he was so much taller than everyone else. They walked down a narrow corridor and continued to exchange one word sentenced teasing each other. But the banter stopped as soon as they entered the room where Emilie's body was laid down.
"I brought her here, we do not keep the body in the temple but in a small cave where we usually do. It is very close." Dorje shifted from one foot to another.
There was one candle to lit up the room and it gave a warm glow to Emilie's hair and face. She remained the same as the first time they saw her in that basement.
Adrien kneeled closer to her body.
"Hi maman." He greeted. "I did not have a chance to speak with you earlier." The boy continued quietly. "I'm sorry for everything that happened." He took a deep breath and exchanged a look with Marinette. She mouthed 'it was not your fault' and then offered a small smile. The boy turned back to the body of his mother and continued. "I feel like I have to apologize although it is not my fault. I do not actually know what happened. You never told me anything about the miraculous. Father never told me anything. I have so many questions. And now, I think I will never have a chance to get those answers. I believe I deserve those answers, but I am not about to waste my life looking for those answers. I will live my life the best I can. For me." He took a deep breath. At one point during his speech, Dorje put a hand on his shoulder. Marinette was on his side and he took her hand.
"I wish I knew about Felix. You cheated me. I thought he was my cousin. I thought he was a child. I played with him. But in the end he is ..." the boy left the sentence unfinished. He rambled quickly and nobody tried to stop him.
"Why have you done that, mother? Why have you given the miraculous and the book to father? Was that how you … got together?" The boy wanted to ask 'was that how you seduced him?' but changed his mind at the last moment as the words did not sit with him well. "Is anyone in our family able to handle loss reasonably? Was aunt Amelie really so torn for her loss that creating Felix was the only solution?"
He was taking quick deep breaths between the sentences and continued to speak quickly.
"Forget about my questions. I do not even want to know the answers to most of them. I just know I want to survive this and stay a normal person. I do not want to become a monster like father. I do not want to create monsters so I would feel better either." He pondered for a while. "I want to be and live like a normal person. I never asked to be a celebrity, I did not want to be famous, I did not ask to be a face of a brand. You were before you became like this and instantly that meant I had to be in your absence."
Adrien made a small break in his rambling and Marinette squeezed his hand harder. This reminded the boy of the girl by his side.
"This is Marinette. She makes me feel loved." Marinette felt her eyes water up. Adrien was already crying, but his voice was steady as he continued to speak quickly and quietly. "Her parents have showed me how parents treat their child. She does not have to be a baker. Yeah she helps out in the family business, but she does not have to make it her life."
Then he took a few breaths to calm down. Because it all got mixed up. The sadness, the anger were the strongest.
"She makes me happy maman. And we had to fight father and Nathalie. He went nuts because of you, because you are like this. Because I think you are gone. Because what is left is an empty shell. Father wanted you back. He wanted life back in this shell." Adrien took a shaky breath.
"He only ever cared about the shell I maintained for the public, for him, for everyone. But inside me, he never cared what was inside me. She cared." Adrien motioned towards Marinette.
"I promise I will be a good student and a good person. Well, as good as I can be." He actually smirked. "But I will do what makes me happy, not what I think would make you or papa happy." The boy continued.
He just spilled all his thoughts and his soul out without particular plan or order. He had no plan, no intention on particular meaning or words he wanted to say. It was not as if his mother was able to hear him, understand or respond. This speech was for him. Those were the words he felt like he wanted them said at that particular moment.
"I love you maman." He finally spoke after a long pause. "I accept you did what you did but it does not have to make me happy or ashamed. That was your choice. I am making my own choices."
Then he took a long breath and got to his feet.
Marinette was not sure what to say or do so she simply got to her feet and followed whatever Adrien was doing.
He turned to face Dorje who was only half a step behind the boy.
"If she is dead, and I think she is, I want you to bury her." Adrien whispered. "I can pay for the funeral." He added as he felt it was necessary. But the monk waved his head as if he wanted to say that was not needed.
Finally it was time to say goodbyes to the monks. Pema waved her head for them to leave the small room and Emilie's body and say their goodbyes somewhere else.
Dorje took the two kids to the other room where Tenzin was waiting for them. Everyone was wiping the tears from their faces but there were relieved smiles on their faces as they saw Adrien felt more at peace.
"You have arrived." Tenzin spoke solemnly the same sentence he said as he met the boy for the first time.
Marinette and Adrien sat down and bowed their heads slightly.
"We have." Adrien replied.
Marinette nodded again.
"And now you are leaving the temple." Tenzin stroked his beard lightly. There was a strange glow in his eyes and soon both teens recognizes there were some tears forming too. But their eyes were already teary from their previous encounter.
"We are going back home. Back to Paris." Marinette whispered quietly.
Adrien took her hand and looked at her. Whatever home was he was about to make one. His home was with her, wherever she went.
"You have done your training here." Tenzin said quietly. "But your training is not finished." He warned. Marinette stared at the old man. What he mean by this. "The training never is. There is always something new to discover, something to learn."
Adrien translated quietly and Marinette nodded to affirm she agreed.
"Because learning is a process that lasts a lifetime." Tenzin concluded.
"We learned something from you too. We learned from both of you." The teacher said with a smile. "Now we expect you to be good guardians of the miracle box. You can come back to us before you are adults for few more lessons on the other miraculous, but you will discover your new powers in time by yourself."
"I have to ask, I know the person who will wield the rabbit miraculous." Marinette spoke quietly.
"You should train her carefully and we would prefer to meet her and test her too." Tenzin replied calmly. "But we trust your decision and your ability to train."
Marinette raised her eyes.
"The same goes for the wielder of the horse miraculous." Tenzin continued. "If you chose a more permanent wielder."
Adrien nodded and then him and Marinette exchanged a look.
"Alix can come back here with her father." Marinette whispered.
"But what about Max?" Adrien asked. It was Alix's father who had found the Feast sentimonster, and one could easily imagine he could come back to continue his work.
"You can come back here by teleportation to the same cave we used before." Dorje whispered. "But that location is a secret and should not be revealed to just anyone. We have to protect it and the temple."
"Of course." Both teens confirmed they understood. There were plenty of secrets left to keep.
They said their goodbyes and got to their feet.
In the large hall they picked up their stuff quickly. The two of them were the last to leave. They walked through the empty space and looked around, it was so different without the bustle of the students, quiet and still. At the main entrance, they took their shoes and put them on their feet. They could see the layer of snow that covered the ground and was carried by strong wind outside the temple when they looked out through the main door. The thin layer of snow fell over night. The skies were cloudy and the wind that reached their faces was strong and cold. The students outside were huddled together and walked away as they were arranged in groups how they would walk further.
Both of them stepped out from the temple into the snow as the wind quickly carried the snow around and filled in the traces made by the students before them.
The moment both teens were out from the temple, Dorje and Pema both unlatched the heavy wooden door and it shut loudly as the wind slammed it shut more fiercely that any human intended.
Everyone turned around and looked at the two teens.
There was a strange silent moment during which everyone stared at them. Marinette straightened up under the weight of her small and now mostly empty backpack and the sleeping bag. Adrien squared his shoulders and looked before him.
They did not have to look at each other. They knew what the other felt. They were heroes, they were wielders of Ladybug and Chat Noir miraculous. They were also the guardians. They knew who they were. One deep breath of the clear cold mountain air cleared their minds. Finally, they took their determined steps forward to join the rest.