Marinette lands harshly in the alley behind her house. An urgency in her step as she jogs to the end. She whispers a fast, 'Spots off.' before darting around the corner and into the bakery.

Her mother turns around with a plastered smile on, "Hello, welco- Marinette?!" Her smile falls to surprise and relief before quickly morphing into anger, "Marinette Dupain-Cheng!-"

Said teen feels a wave of emotions at her mother's voice, even with her hands placed on her hips and a frow in her brow, the bluenette can't help but want to be near her. Her anger from before rushes to her eyes in the form of tears and she doesn't waste another moment before crashing into her mom for a hug.

"I- I'm so sorry!" A sob wracks it's way past her lips, "I shouldn't have left! But I was so scared and I didn't know what to do and I'm so sorry for leaving!"

Slowly, warm arms embrace her, a hand carding through her hair gently in a soothing gesture, "Oh honey." Her mother doesn't say much else, just keeping her hands tightly around her.

The door jingles behind Marinette but she doesn't have the heart to lift her head up to see the customer.

"I haven't found her yet has she- Marinette!" Her father's voice changes her mind quickly, her head lifting to see the large man rushing towards them with open arms and a sad kind of smile on his face, "You came back!" He lands on his knees, pulling both of them into a hug on the floor, relief dripping from him in waves, "We were so worried about you."

Marinette feels a wave of guilt sink in her gut, she really hadn't meant to scare her parents like this, especially with what they know about Adrien. She moves one of her arms to wrap around her dad's neck, pulling both of her parents close, "I'm so sorry I ran away. I was so scared and didn't know what else to do."

Her father pulls away slightly to give her a questioning look, "Scared of what?"

She panics slightly, she hadn't meant to give away something like that, "I-uh, wheen I," she pauses and tries to remember what had happened before the phone call, "Locked you out of your house!" She pulls her arms into her chest and speaks quickly, "I slammed the door in your face and then I got scared that you would be super angry with me and I didn't want to be around Lila so I ran away!"

Her mother folds her arms, "How in the world could you have run away from the room?"

Marinette was prepared for this question at least, "The fire escape."

The worry softens to understanding, "Oh that makes much more sense."

Her father places a hand on her back, "Why didn't you just try to talk to us?"

The bluenette looks to the floor, "Well, it's just that…" she debates her next words carefully, if she said too much her parents would worry more and ask questions but if she didn't give them a good reason they would be angry, "I've been having trouble at school. It's been hard to be around my friends recently and I just really needed some space. So when Lila showed up I got super mad and slammed the door."

Her mother gives her a comforting hug, "You could have told us you were having trouble with your friends."

Her father sits up straighter, "Yeah, then we could have explained to that girl that you didn't want to see her!"

Marinette smiles, "Thanks. I'm still super sorry for running away."

They both give her a loving smile.

Her mom kissing the top of her head, "We're sorry you felt like you couldn't talk to us."

Taking a deep breath, the teen whipped away all her tears, "Is it ok if I go upstairs? I'm kind of tired after yesterday."

Her father nods, "Of course, but later after we close the shop, we will need to have a talk about what happened and where you went. If you don't mind telling us?"

The clear worry on her father's face reassures her about that particular conversation. They didn't seem too upset at the moment and if things went well they might even let her out of the house after this. But for now, "Yeah. We can talk."

Her mom helps her stand, patting the back of her hand while her father walks around the counter to the phone, "Don't worry about getting into your room, your father managed to move everything that was blocking it. Please let me know if anything broke so that we can either replace or fix it alright?"

Marinette bobs her head, "Yeah. Again I'm sorry."

They share one more hug before she's allowed to walk upstairs and into their home. Despite the damage she had done, the front room and hallway were completely clean.

Tikki flies out in front of her, "What are you going to tell them?"

Marinette smiles, "I'm going to be as honest as I can be without giving anything away. You were right, I should have talked to them a long time ago about what's happening at school."

The Kwami flies into the kitchen and hovers over the counter, "I'm glad you're finally telling them something."

The teen follows after her, pulling out a small stash of goodies for the creature before diving into the fridge herself for a snack, "Yeah. Now I just have to work on my plan."

Tikki's voice is muffled when she speaks, presumably by the snacks, "Wha' plan?"

Marinette grabs a container of watermelon before turning to the Kwami with a devilish smile, "I'm taking the Miraculous."

The Kwami sits unnaturally still, her eyes wide and mouth partially open. Then in a flash she's whizzing towards her, cookie long forgotten, "What do you mean taking the Miraculous?!" Her voice is frantic, her arms waving around wildly as she shouts.

Only a little surprised by her reaction, the teen waves the creatures worry to the side, "I can't save Adrien alone. As much as I'm upset with my teammates I'll need their help if I have any hope of rescuing him. That means I need the Miraculous."

Walking around the floating Kwami, Marinette makes her way to her room. Doing her best to remember what all of the miraculous looked like.

"Marinette! You can't be serious! Stealing the Miraculous from Master Fu is the worst possible thing you could do. Don't you remember what he said?"

The teen closes the trap door and heads for her closet to find her long lost box of jewelry making supplies, "I know what he said Tikki, but I'm tired of people underestimating me."

Tikki floats into the closet to appear in her face, "Please, reconsider. If the master finds out what happened he will take me away from you."

Marinette pauses in her search, debating on what to say while she sets down the container of watermelon, "I know. I know he could take you away, but I've looked at every possibility I could think of and now that Hawkmoth knows who I am there is absolutely no way for me to defeat him alone. I'm going to need help, even if I don't trust my teammates." She looks up at the Kwami meaningfully, "Please, help me with this."

They stare at each other with such intensity it's a wonder how time passes around them. The teen silently wonders what the creature was thinking about, and if it was part of the reason she disappears into the closet only to rustle one of the boxes on the top shelf.

She pops out a moment later with a smile, "Then you're going to need our expertise!"

Plagg appears from the ring in a flash of green light, "What do you mean 'our'? I don't remember agreeing to this."

Tikki floats down to be level with him while Marinette grabs the box, "Come on Plagg, we know what all of the miraculous look like! We can help Marinette make perfect copies of the ones she wants."

The cat folds his arms, "I like mischief just as much as the next person but this is more than a little prank."

The teen sets the box down and smiles at Plagg, "I could really use your help right now. Will you help me? Please?"

He frowns before groaning dramatically, "Uuuuuggghhhh fiine! I'll help. But only because you asked!" He flies over to the box before whipping around, "But I demand the smelliest of cheeses!"

Marinette giggles, "Ok, ok. I'll see what I can find."

You are now caught up wirh AOT3