Synopsis:

It is far from coincidences that these miraculous jewels ended in Marinette's and Adrien's possession. Their kwamis claim that they have been specifically chosen as the sole protectors against evil. But when an akuma returns a forgotten past, it unravels an unforeseen destiny of their Miraculous predecessors' lives. Their decisions, from this moment forward, could possibly alter the true meaning of their existences and their destinies.

References:

(c) Miraculous: The Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir belongs to Thomas Astruc & Zag Toons
(c) Cover photoshopped and edited by XxScarletxRosexX
(c) Miraculous: The Lost Memoirs written by XxScarletxRosexX

Within seconds, the darkness was encapsulated by bright light, only this time, Lady Noir had backflipped into the alley to avoid another discombobulating attack.

Marinette landed on her feet, her right hand pressed against the ground as if it were to prevent her from flying backward caused by the blast. When she heard the familiar sound of the wires becoming taut, she looked up and gasped, "What the-?!"

"Photoflash bomb, sweetie. There's still a ton of secrets you have yet to learn about the yo-yo," the former Ladybug answered. "Now let's see how well you've earned your spots!" Ladybug flung her yo-yo in the dark, only to have it retracted upon collision with Lady Noir's staff.

Just as Lady Noir was ready to fight another round, a yank from her hair elicited a short yelp, followed by a hushed, "Come with me!" Listening to the original cat miraculous's owner with Lady Noir retreated into the alley.

When Ladybug took note of her opponent's distancing footsteps, she thrust her yo-yo once more and hollered, "Oh no, you're not getting ahead of me this time, Marinette!"

"Quick! Use Cataclysm on the ground!" the current cat miraculous holder instructed.

"Cataclysm!" Lady Noir cried out as she touched the ground where she and the original cat miraculous holder fell through. Marinette had forgotten that Chat Noir had the ability to see through the dark. It had taken only a second to recognize the source of the voice as they free-fell through into the sewers. Before her mind could register the shock of witnessing Paris's popular supermodel free-fall beside her, her lips hollered his name followed by pulling his body against hers. She maneuvered herself to cushion his fall and take the full impact of their fall. To her dismay-perhaps her lack of luck as the current holder of destruction-Lady Noir had landed back first on solid ground. Despite the stinging pain screaming from the contact, Lady Noir knew that she made the right call as soon as she felt the young model winded the air from her lungs.

"Marinette!" Adrien panicked as soon as he realized that he had landed on top of the heroine.

"Ugh," Marinette groaned before opening her eyes to peer into the darkness. Her eyes fell upon the model, checking for signs of causalities. She exhaled a breath of relief when she had found none, "I'm glad to see you're safe."

"Marinette, that's not-"

"Shh," Marinette quickly hushed the blonde model when her hypersensitive ears caught the sound of Ladybug nearing their escape entrance. As the debris settled, Lady Noir had taken a quick assessment of their current situation and quickly noted that the debris had unfortunately formed into a cave over them, leaving them completely trapped and at the mercy of Ladybug.

At the sudden rigidity of Lady Noir's body, Adrien felt himself mirror her body while his human ears strained in the deafening darkness for Ladybug's steps. He found the task nearly impossible due to the proximity he shared with Marinette and having his ear pressed against Marinette's chest. Her accelerating heartbeat drummed erratically every passing minute. Had their situation been anything but life-threatening, Adrien would have found this situation too much for his heart to bear considering that his mind was still registering the world-shattering reality that the woman beneath him is the love of his life.

As Ladybug came closer to their location, Lady Noir had unintentionally tightened her arms on Adrien in preparation for an unavoidable confrontation. However, a clear voice came directly above them, "Let's see," Ladybug pondered aloud, "It's a 50-50 chance that Marinette and Chat Noir are beneath the debris or have sprinted deep within the sewage system." There was a pause... an uncomfortably, long pause of deafening silence from Ladybug's end, but both Lady Noir and Adrien remained frozen in place. With new secrets arising from this encounter, Marinette was unsure if there were new abilities that the former owner had known about but she hadn't. Along with this reflection, she had grown more unsure and discouraged with her lack of ability to unlock and utilize all of her skills as Ladybug.

Sabine wasn't heartless, however, nor was she cruel. She knew her daughter like the back of her hand, and she knew her daughter would be beneath the rubble in contrast to running in the sewers-the lack of reverberating footsteps had proven that. She knew the duo would still be running for their lives as she had approached them because it would have been what she would have done in their situation. Except, Marinette probably could have reasoned that her best option would be to remain still beneath the rubble not only to protect Chat Noir's identity but to also prevent themselves from being caught by Sabine, or to trick Sabine and buy time to escape. Sabine had far more experience beyond Marinette could imagine, things that she had wished that she could have shared with her inheritor. But that day would hopefully never come.

Instead, Sabine chose not to play into one of their expected outcomes. From her many experiences, she knew there was a time for everything to fall into place. More importantly, she needed to regroup with Hawkmoth and discuss other plans. He has yet to redeem himself after making her perform violent and possibly-traumatic actions on her own daughter. The best thing Sabine could do to make up with her daughter was to give Marinette the moment she should have had before the miraculous had intertwined with her life. From her maternal and former experiences as the forgotten hero, she wanted to give her daughter the moment she couldn't have when she had been the former protector of Paris who patrolled the streets of Paris along with the former cat miraculous owner.

"I'm sorry, Marinette," Sabine whispered gently, but it did not go amiss by Lady Noir's sharp ears. The sound produced from throwing the yo-yo had resounded directly above them, but to Lady Noir and Adrien's surprise, it grew distant until it had completely faded away. Distrusting the situation to be a trap, the duo had decided to spend another minute listening intently to the sound of the taut string.

Was this a trap? Lady Noir considered cautiously, unable to decipher whether her mother's apology was directed as an apology for capturing the pair or for the situation itself. But before she can draw a conclusion, a familiar, rapid pulsing beep from her miraculous brought Lady Noir to make the decision to leave their enclosure. Lady Noir decided to use her staff and extended it in the direction of where her head had been lying. To her relief, the debris gave way like a Jenga block. The excitement of her breakthrough had her momentarily forget that her crush was still lying on her chest. Exchanging looks at a flustered Adrien Agreste, she giggled slightly then instructed him to cautiously exit the hole. If a villain truly waited for them, Adrien was encouraged to run away.

Adrien nodded and carefully planted his limbs on the small spaces where he had avoided harming and stepping on Lady Noir's limbs. He apologized on the way, given that he was both embarrassed by their uncomfortable predicament. With a quiet, "It's safe" indicator from the young model, Lady Noir had flipped herself onto her stomach and crawled her way out of their hiding. As she was crawling out of the hole, Marinette, found herself embarrassed as she came into clear view with her crush. Unbeknown to her, Adrien was also checking out Lady Noir as she straightened herself. After Lady Noir had finished dusting herself, the two met gaze and shyly smiled and giggled to one another.

"Let's walk a little further and take shelter for now. I wouldn't want to confront Ladybug or anyone else any time soon," Lady Noir suggested.

Adrien nodded in agreement and unconsciously grabbed ahold of her hand. Realizing his error, he quickly scrambled for an excuse, "Uh, well, since I'm no longer Chat Noir, it's kind of hard to see my way."

"Oh," Lady Noir smiled sheepishly as she took his hand in hers, "right. Well, hang on tight."

Adrien smiled and nodded as both duos sported scarlet cheeks as they walked a minute into the sewer's endless tunnels. Another second later and Adrien found the courage to say, "I never thought you'd be right next to me this whole time."

The statement brought a flustered Lady Noir glance at him and answer shyly, "What makes you say that?"

"Well you know," the blond model continued when another paw mark blinked and an accompanying beeping sound interrupted his conversation. Lady Noir, however, paid it no mind and continued leading the two further away from the wreckage. "I just feel so stupid for not realizing it sooner, Marinette."

Lady Noir had instantly felt warmth blanket the skin beneath her mask and a skip in the increasing palpitating heartbeat at the mention of her true identity. It wasn't every day that someone had figured out her secret identity, and said person is her crush. She never thought this day would truly come. "Why would you say that?" she stammered as her steps fell to a halt. She released her hand from Adrien not because she had felt uncomfortable, but because she was afraid he would notice her hands tremble from her nervousness, but she steeled herself to face Adrien and give him her full attention.

"As you are... you're already beyond amazing. I just feel so stupid for not realizing that you could be under the mask," Adrien mumbled shyly while rubbing the growing heat on his neck. When Marinette didn't respond, Adrien continued to fill in the silence, "I mean, after Kwamibuster, I wasn't so sure anymore. I don't know how you did it."

Before Lady Noir could provide an answer, she was interrupted by another pulsating sound emanating from the ring. Deeming that they were safe from harm, Marinette commanded, "Claws in." At an instant, she had detransformed back to her civilian pink and black attire along with her signature ultramarine pigtails. Marinette held her palms open to catch an exhausted Plagg lying face back on her palms.

Witnessing Marinette standing before him, Adrien found himself more in awe than he ever thought he could be. It wasn't difficult for him to register, in fact, he felt quite relieved to see that it was Marinette. Catching himself in his mesmerizing thoughts, Adrien dug in his pocket to pull out a small slice of camembert, where Plagg had no problem bolting up and flew towards Adrien.

The two had exchanged their amusement over the kwami's sudden revival. Then continuing where their conversation had left off, Marinette answered, "I used the mouse miraculous and transformed into Multimouse. Then using her abilities, I made multiple versions of myself and had one unify with the fox miraculous. From there, I just pulled a magic show until you and Miss Mendeleiev left the scene."

Adrien stared at her with bewilderment and amazement, "Wow. You're more amazing than I thought. It's no wonder you were picked as Ladybug."

"She really saved Tikki and my butt that day," Plagg agreed while munching his savory camembert, "Best Ladybug and Lady Noir I've ever worked with."

Marinette giggled, "What can I say? I had to keep my identity a secret."

"You have no idea how close Adrien had figured out your identity," Plagg continued, "Sometimes I wish I could have just said it had it not been for the curse."

"Curse?" the pair inquired synchronously.

"I'm sure you've seen us do it before. If a kwami accidentally mentions their current miraculous owners to another miraculous owner or another active kwami, bubbles come out of our mouths," Plagg answered.

"Wow, so basically our identities were definitely seal-proofed," Marinette commented impressed.

"Eh," Plagg shrugged as he devoured another large piece of camembert, "I'm sure if Tikki were here, she would be just as relieved to see you guys like this right now."

From the corner of his eye, Adrien had taken instant notice of Marinette's shifting mood. It seemed that Tikki's name still triggered her insecurity.

"I don't know," Marinette sighed as her body fell to a squat. "I'm not sure about that anymore," she mumbled against her legs. "I'm sure she was disappointed in me for surrendering my miraculous."

Adrien turned his gaze to Plagg, who responded with a shrug of his shoulder before deciding to fly off to give his socially-challenged owner and his infatuated crush some time. He took what's left of his camembert cheese and flew to a corner to munch in peace.

The young model placed his hand on Marinette's shoulder encouragingly and gave it a squeeze. The model also fell to a crouch and eventually sat next to her, "I doubt it. If there's anything I'm confident in, it's the fact that you always come up with the right answers and the right plans at the right time, Marinette. I'm sure you'll find a way to fix this. I have faith in you, my lady."

Marinette had taken a moment to stare at her crush dumbfoundedly. It was odd to see her perfect Adrien use Chat Noir's signature nickname for her. Her cheeks were lit ablaze nevertheless, she offered a bashful and affectionate smile to him. Then raising her hand to rest on top of the hand on her shoulder, she gave it a squeeze as she shifted her gaze to the view in front of her.

"I assume this has been eating at you for the past three days."

The teenage girl nodded and slowly answered, "I just feel ashamed of myself." Marinette felt her eyes prickle and tried her best to fight back the onset of tears. However, only one had escaped.

"Hey," Adrien slowly raised his hand from her shoulder and gently caught the tear that slipped down her cheek, "Don't be so hard on yourself. You saved my life, Marinette. You don't understand how truly brave and selfless you are."

"But Tikki-"

"She will be back with us soon," the model answered with adamant conviction.

Despite facing her crush at her most vulnerable moment, she recognized this safe and warm atmosphere sitting beside Adrien. Since their battle against Miracle Queen, Marinette knew that the only person she could be her full and complete self was the person who she had interlocked her fingers with. "I don't know how you do it," Marinette sighed defeatedly, "I don't know how you have so much faith in me. I always find a way to mess things up and-"

"You always find a way to fix things no matter what," Adrien interjected whilst wearing a soft expression, his fingers curling beneath their intertwined fingers.

"But-"

Adrien interrupted the girl by placing an index finger from his free hand on her lips, "Always."

Taken aback by his confidence, Marinette's could only stare into the young model's glowing green eyes. She was sure that Adrien could feel the obnoxious heat blooming stronger across her cheeks. Heck, given their close proximity, she wouldn't be surprised if he could hear how fast her heart had been drumming. She felt her lips open and close, but her voice was drowned out by the overwhelming beat. She had only hoped that her message of gratitude had successfully reached him while said heartbeat had drowned her ears from properly assessing the situation. All she knew was each heartbeat had further intensified as the young Agreste's emerald irises grew larger... nearer... she was dazzled by their brilliance as if they were welcoming her to be sucked in.

A slurred, but soft "Thank you" had reached Adrien's ears but he could no longer find the words within himself to respond given that his mind was fixated elsewhere. That fixation had been a specific feature that had haunted his thoughts and dreams. Something about Marinette's blue-bell eyes shimmered more than usual. Adrien found himself not only cupping her cheek with the hand from her shoulder but now his other hand was gently cupping the other side of her face and slowly guiding it towards him. Marinette didn't seem to respond any different from his touch, in fact, her eyes had fluttered half-closed as he guided her closer to his face. In this dim setting, he found Marinette's expressions undeniably sultry and attractive. Glancing elsewhere, he took note of her quivering pink lips. His mind was intoxicated by Marinette's eyes and her lips. He wondered how her lips would feel pressed against his and how she would taste. The perverted thoughts seemed to cease at the gentle impact of their lips brushing tentatively against one another. Soft. They brushed against each other a second time, and by the third attempt, he grew in confidence and brought his lips to gently connect against Marinette's soft, cupid-bow lips. The sensation had sent the young model to feel very alive at this moment.

However, Adrien had no evil bone borne into him and he had counted several heartbeats to acknowledge that Marinette had not displayed any signs of resistance nor rejection to his exploration. Before his conscious had slipped away with the sensation, he broke their kiss and mumbled a husky apology. To his surprise, Marinette responded by pulling him back into the kiss. He heard her sigh his name against his lips, causing a delicious tingle to crawl down his stomach, and took this response as an encouragement to continue his ministration. Perhaps he had underestimated himself and his hyperactive and hypersensitive hormones because after this kiss, came another one, and another one. Marinette's lips had melted against his lips like a perfectly-fitted glove. He didn't know how else to describe her lips nor the growing sensation he got off kissing her. He could feel the air between them grow thicker, and seeing how sensual and enticing Marinette appeared while taking a breath in the dim setting continued to deepen his thoughts of Marinette and how much he would love to feel her more… especially the skin beneath her clothes.

"Ahem," a raspy voice cleared his throat to disrupt the evolving PG-13 exchange. Although the black kwami was happy for the pair to finally make up for loss time, he was sure that make-out session in the sewers was not an ideal place for things to grow more intimate. Also, the successful digestion of his camembert only made Plagg wish he had more to replace his disgust over the overly sweet view, "Although I'm happy to see you finally found your perfect cheese, Adrien, but could you please save all that spice until we get sugar cube back?"

Finding his will and sense of logic returning to him, Adrien had realized what unforgivable actions he had done and what indecent thoughts had guided him during the exchange. Had it not been for Plagg, he probably would have lost control and caved in to his desires. It was the first time that he had ever felt such an overwhelming emotion completely envelop him. Meanwhile, he watched as Marinette's sultry expression faded into pure innocence and into a full-blown embarrassment. The young model felt himself fall bewitched by the sudden mercurial state of Marinette's expressions, yet he also sensed himself mirroring her emotions.

He quickly withdrew his hands from Marinette's flustered cheeks and quickly exclaimed his apologies. "I'm so, so, so, so sorry Marinette! I-I-I don't know what went through me!"

"N-n-no, i-i-i-it's not your fault!" Marinette squealed, equally embarrassed and equally wishing she were an ostrich who could plunge her face into the ground. "You're delicious! I mean, perfect! N-n-no! I mean you're fine! Fine as in not just attractive, but fine as in I'm not mad. It was great! I'm fine!"

At her frivolous reaction, Adrien couldn't help but feel surprised followed by offering her a reserved smile. But after witnessing Marinette's failing attempt to maintain a cool-headed expression, Adrien found his words failing him and instead replaced with laughter. It wasn't long until Marinette had joined his infectious mirth. It wasn't that the pair had been laughing to chase away the awkward atmosphere, but to illustrate that they truly had enjoyed what had transpired. Adrien had truly hoped that this moment would last forever and beyond their current situation.

"Am I the only one who finds the current Ladybug acting weird?" Plagg added, completely changing the topic and atmosphere entirely.

The question seemed to have brought the couple to stop and re-evaluate Sabine's sudden behavior.

"You may be on to something," Adrien praised the levitating black kwami, "Don't you agree, m'lady?"

Marinette had crossed one arm on her hip while the other free hand was resting beneath her chin while she had reflected on her mom's behavior. This was her mother, alright. Not Lucky Chance. Although this was an entirely new side of her mother that she had never once seen before, she also considered why the prior Ladybug had chosen not to pursue them. I'm sorry, Marinette, she heard her mother's voice apologizing to her softly. Sabine knew her daughter would hear it with her hyper-hearing skills. "I think..." she began slowly, "I think she had purposely let us go."

"Aren't you giving her too much credit?" Plagg challenged.

"If she was the former Ladybug owner, then I'm sure that with her experience, she wouldn't have a difficult time catching us. You also noticed her tactician skills were spot on!" the ultramarine teenager deducted whilst animatedly expressing herself with her hands. Her performance left her listeners feeling amused while she was lost in her own thinking process. Adrien had always found this behavior quirky and charming to watch unfold. Despite that, her unwarranted pun is what resulted in Adrien grinning widely and holding back his laughter.

Meanwhile, Marinette had continued her animated thinking process and began pacing back and forth. "Either decision I had made would have resulted in us meeting our doom." She turned to see Adrien and Plagg exchanging amused glances. "What?"

"You don't realize how much I wish I could have seen you transform into Ladybug right now," Adrien answered innocently but ended it with a wink.

"Wha-?"

"Is this the first time you unconsciously used Tikki's transformation phrase in a sentence?" Plagg indicated.

The teenage girl brought a hand over her face and proceeded to facepalm. After a second she glared at the pair and asked, "You do know transformations don't work without knowing the kwami's name, right?"

Adrien turned to his kwami, who only stared at him back.

"Of course I know that," the pair declared simultaneously.

Marinette could only roll her eyes. Like user, like kwami. Despite discovering Chat Noir's secret identity, learning she and Adrien had shared mutual feelings, and escaping the former Ladybug's wrath in one peace, Marinette couldn't help but realize how long this day would be. However, an epiphany had suddenly crossed her mind. "Plagg, if my mom was the former Ladybug, then who was the former Chat Noir?"

A/N:

Hello everyone! Thank you for your patience! I have written this about 2 weeks ago, but I had been more or less adding and changing new things. Just recently, I had a sudden plot bunny struck me while I was cleaning and this story's plot is going to change completely. The plot I had left for myself 5 years ago has become completely scrapped due to new information given from the current series. To be honest with you, I am actually grateful that I had never completed this series because I now know what it means when "wine ages well with time." With this being said, I am happy to share that the next chapter will probably be one of my all-time favorites to write because it is a reflection of a Miraculous theory that I think will happen in the upcoming series!

In terms of the writing traffic, expect some turbulence and slow submissions. I resume my second semester in my master's program later this afternoon. Also, this upcoming Friday (Jan. 22) will be my partner's and my 5th anniversary. Therefore, I will be celebrating with my partner on Discord not only due to COVID restrictions but also because we're in an LDR (TnT)

Thank you everyone for being so patient and understanding all this time and for allowing me to return back into writing! Please let me know what you think and I wish you all a wonderful day! :3