Okay guys, the results are in! Thank you to everyone who voted.
So, what cute, little baby is Marinette pregnant with? Drum roll please...
It's baby Emma! Yay! The results were not even close. I'll post the final tally at the notes at the bottom of this chapter.
Also, A huge thanks to my beta readers, HappGorl, Tashers581, gamechanger321, on Wattpad, and my friend, Sylvia! You all take my writing to the next level!
...
"Oh, Marinette," Tikki said, with clear concern in her voice. "You have got to stop pacing like that."
Marinette continued walking, taking no heed to her kwami's futile advice.
"What else am I supposed to do?" She quickened her pace. "They've been down there for hours, and I've been stuck, dying of the unrelenting nervousness suffocating me in this room!"
She glanced towards the window, the sun's setting rays piercing through the glass like a bright, mocking reminder that Bunnix would be there soon.
This final day in the future had gone nothing like she had imagined, and honestly, she wasn't quite ready to give up everything she had gained here in order to go home. Sure, Adrien would be there, waiting for her as soon as she stepped out of that portal, but it wouldn't be the same Adrien she had recently gotten to know, now would it?
Tikki flitted from her position on the chaise, landing on Marinette's shoulder and nuzzling against the side of her face. "It's going to be okay," she cooed. "You know that, don't you?"
Marinette paused, leaning her head into Tikki's touch. "Of course I do, Tikki." She closed her eyes. "It's just…"
Stupid. Marinette couldn't bring herself to finish that sentence. Because that's all it was. Once again Marinette was freaking out about something completely and utterly stupid.
Tikki nuzzled even closer. "What is it, Marinette? You know you can talk to me, right?"
"Yea, I know," Marinette lifted her hand, petting the side of her kwami's head and looking back towards the window.
But this was something she really shouldn't say out loud.
She was having a hard enough time just thinking about it, let alone putting her irrational fears into a sentence.
Besides. It wasn't as if Marinette wanted to think this way.
Her stupid mind just had to formulate ideas of how everything could fall apart when she returned to her own time.
She already knew Adrien would become her boyfriend. From an outsider's perspective (i.e. adult Alya), everything about her and Adrien's relationship was going to turn out just perfect.
And Marinette had wholeheartedly believed that fact.
At least until now.
Because why wouldn't her already rattled, nerve-driven thoughts not figure out that her naive assumption had one, critical, little flaw?
Yes, shouldn't it have been obvious? She had only been told the story of her return from other people's point of view. But the older Marinette had said nothing about her all-too-soon return herself. Granted, she had kind of been crying and thinking about Adrien the entire time they had spent together. But that was besides the point! Because now... now Marinette had no idea what things would truly be like when she was finally face-to face with her Adrien.
Would it be as blissful as Alya had described? Or was that all just a load of bollocks?
Marinette didn't know.
What if everything Alya had described in regards to Marinette's confident and flirtatious actions was simply for show?
What if… it was all a lie?
Marinette had tried to shake that preposterous thought out of her mind. But as soon as it had taken root, she just couldn't let it go.
She had tried to fall asleep earlier - to keep her messed up thoughts from going any further down that road. But as soon as she had closed her eyes, her brain had already solved the mystery of what could potentially come in the way of her rapidly-approaching, newly-forming relationship with Adrien.
And as crazy as it sounded… it was herself.
Well, to be more exact: her knowledge.
Yea. That knowledge of the future that she had been so excited about. But what if instead of aiding in her and Adrien's relationship, it alternatively became a burden?
Like, what if instead of being madly in love with Adrien, she was stuck lamenting, constantly comparing him to the Adrien of the future?
Yup. Her thoughts had gone down that kind of road of stupid.
Ugh! She shook her head, trying to ignore Tikki's face nuzzled against the crook of her neck, breaking her trance from the window to sit down on the edge of the bed. Why couldn't her wild fantasies (or in this case, nightmares) just leave her the heck alone?!
As if she wasn't already nervous enough knowing that she was about to reveal herself to Adrien - because what else was she supposed to do - there'd be no way she would be able to keep everything she had learned a secret. She'd never been that good at telling lies. But why, why had her idiotic brain decided that she needed an extra thing to worry about? Why couldn't she just accept the happy future that both Adrien and Alya had so beautifully painted?
Why did she have to think that everything they said was just… well, false?
That Marinette would somehow end up being miserable, or worse, she would end up letting Adrien down with her diluted and unmerited thoughts?
"Marinette," Tikki softly added, floating off Marinette's shoulder and moving in front of her in order to make eye contact - the exact thing that Marinette didn't want right now. "I know something's bothering you. You always feel better after you've had a chance to talk it all out."
Marinette clenched her jaw, sucking in a deep breath, her shoulders rising with the stiff action. "I don't think that will work this time, Tikki," she said, her words barely escaping her tightened mouth. She took in another sharp breath, this time, allowing her lips to pop open. "I'm just being stupid. I know it's stupid, and I really should just let this slide."
Because that was the only logical thing to do, wasn't it? Bringing these thoughts, these words to life would do nothing but fulfill her fears' ambitions. She should just forget about it. Think about what she would say to Adrien when she returned and just freaking move on with her life.
Tikki inched closer, delicately brushing Marinette's cheek with her paw, her eyes looking strangely like Marinette's mother's every time her mother was about to give her advice. A sweet grin lit up her face, and Marinette knew - she knew - Tikki was about to blow all of her safeguards to the side.
"But it's not that easy, is it?" Tikki nearly whispered, comfortingly stroking Marinette's face.
And there it was. The truth Marinette had already accepted. It was going to take a lot more than sheer determination to snuff out these lies.
"No."
Her response was simple, but there was so much weight poured into that one syllable. Marinette felt almost drained, having expended so much energy, so much of herself to speak that one little admission, that she found herself unwittingly closing her eyes and falling onto the bed, her legs still hanging over the edge.
"Then it's not stupid."
Marinette's lids flew back open.
"Of course it is, Tikki!" These fears were nothing but ridiculous! And nothing Tikki's wisdom had to offer was going to change that fact.
"Marinette," Tikki cooed, softly landing on her chest, "whatever is bugging you has been eating up at you all afternoon. That means that to you, it's not stupid, and I think it's something we really need to talk about."
"No." Marinette snappily responded. I can't.
"Marinette," Tikki slowly drawled.
"Tikki," Marinette sarcastically retorted, batting her eyelashes. Two could play at that game.
"Fine. I get it." She crossed her arms (or whatever one would call them). "You don't want to talk." She flitted from Marinette's chest towards the other side of the room, making Marinette roll on her side just to keep the little kwami in her vision. "But if you don't want to get through this for yourself, then at least think of Adrien." She tilted her head towards the, now, seemingly all-too-happy Adrien in the picture sitting on the dresser. "He's the one who is going to be completely freaked out. Does he really deserve whatever this is" Tikki unfolded her arms, gesturing towards Marinette, "on top of everything else he'll be thinking about?"
Of course not! Marinette internally screamed, flinging herself into an upright position.
"Adrien's what I've been thinking about this entire time!" She angrily blurted, no longer able to keep her thoughts hidden as she hopped off the bed, stepping towards her kwami. "Don't you dare say I'm not thinking of Adrien!"
Because this whole, stupid thing was all about him, right?
Adrien, Adrien, Adrien. Marinette couldn't get him out of her head. Thinking about him was what had gotten her into this idiotic frame of mind.
No.
It really would have been better if she had just not thought about him for a moment, wouldn't it?
"Oh?" Tikki raised her brow, inching her way back to Marinette. "If you care so much about him, then talk to me, Marinette! You're a mess right now!"
"I know I am, Tikki!" She froze, clenching her fists and looking towards the ground.
It wasn't as if she had wanted to have a complete and utter meltdown before Bunnix arrived. And no matter how badly Marinette just wanted to ignore it, Tikki was right. She would be returning in the middle of an akuma fight. She needed to be focused. And when things finally settled down for her to get a chance to talk to Adrien, she needed to be past this - to be able to face him with her whole heart.
"Ugh!" Marinette stomped her foot, squeezing her fists even tighter. She'd always been the type who needed a friend to vent things over with. Of course this time wouldn't be an exception. "Please don't think I'm a terrible person, alright?"
"Never." Tikki gently raised Marinette's chin, caringly gazing into her eyes.
Marinette melted into her touch. "I just couldn't stop worrying about how I'm going to react around an Adrien that's so different from the one I've gotten used to the past few days. See? Stupid. Right?"
"It's not stupid," Tikki corrected, her gaze unchanged.
Unconvinced, Marinette shook her head, tearing herself from Tikki's grasp as she strode back towards the window. "Look, I know it's not fair, and that I've only been here for three days, but ugh!" She threw her head back, burying her fingers into the roots of her hair. "What if I'm constantly comparing the younger Adrien with his future self?"
"Marinette, I said that it's not..."
"I know it's dumb." Marinette tugged at her hair. "And he's probably not all that different. But… I don't know!" She flung her arms into the air, allowing them to quickly fall, slapping her on her sides as she turned back towards Tikki. "What if he is! What if I become disappointed with the Adrien I go back to simply because he is not the man version of himself? A lot can happen in eight years. I know he still has a lot of growing to do. What if I'm not happy with him in his adolescence?"
She'd always placed him on a pedestal. Would now really be any different? Instead of thinking he was some perfect model or whatever the heck she used to think about him, now she would just compare him to his future self: her perfectly, imperfect diamond.
"Now listen to me, Marinette." Tikki closed the space between them, poking her in the chest. "I know you a lot better than that. You've loved that boy for how many years now? Four? He will not disappoint you."
Marinette swallowed, trying to choke back the lump that was quickly forming in her throat.
"Tikki, I'm just so scared." She clutched onto her kwami, gasping for breath. "All these years I thought I knew Adrien, but the past few days I learned that I didn't know him one bit. I was excited that I finally got to know who he really is, but that Adrien's different. I have no idea who he is at all!"
Hot, searing tears poured past her lashes as she tightened her embrace, squeezing Tikki against her chest. It was inevitable that Marinette would end up crying today, what with all the tears she had already witnessed and her building up emotions.
Tikki was right. She thought, not even bothering to hold back her silent but seemingly endless crying. It was better to let it all out now instead of in front of him.
"Marinette," Tikki reached up, placing her paws on both of Marinette's wettened cheeks, "that's just not true. You're overthinking things." What else was new? "Chat Noir is your best friend."
Tikki sighed, clearly trying to think of the right words to say as Marinette struggled to keep her burning eyes open. "You may not know exactly what he is going through because of the secrets he has had to keep from you, but he has never hidden the most important part of him."
"And what's that?" Marinette sniveled, wiping at her eyes with her fists. Because clearly, she was too dense to arrive at the same conclusion.
"Oh, sweetie." Tikki lowered Marinette's arms, taking over the job of drying her tears as Marinette closed her eyes. "I'm talking about his heart. Adrien has always opened up his heart to you. You already know everything you need to know about who he is as a person. The rest of that stuff is just details. Sure, the Adrien of your time may not look like, or even have the same experiences as this Adrien. But none of that matters. His heart, his kindness, his love- it's all already there. Now you just get to enjoy the ride, relishing in every single moment that will shape him into the man that you found here."
Tikki took a deep breath. "So you can stop worrying now." She switched to dabbing at Marinette's eyelids. "Just go and show that boy how much you love him!"
Marinette simply bit her lips, slowly nodding - unable to properly form any remote semblance of a thought process.
"Tikki's right, you know."
Marinette jerked her eyes open, Tikki simultaneously flitting to the side, no longer blocking her vision.
"Never once did your Adrien pale in comparison to my Adrien." The woman continued, leaving the doorway and walking even further into the room. "In fact," she smiled, although Marinette noted that it didn't quite meet her eyes, "if I remember correctly, it didn't take very long for me to realize how truly idiotic I had been for even entertaining that assumption."
Finally making her way all across the room, she placed her hand on Marinette's shoulder. "No matter what, Adrien will always be just an adorkable, love-struck kitten."
Marinette snickered. Adorkable.
"Come on," the older Marinette tapped her shoulder. "You know it's true. Just think of the time he plastered that rooftop full of roses. Only a bona fide, hopelessly romantic dork could think of something as cheesy as that."
As all her fears dissipated, Marinette couldn't keep herself from suddenly bursting into laughter. All of this had simply been ridiculous, and now Marinette was standing face-to-face with her very-much-pregnant future self, caught in that awkward state of laughing with trails of snot careening down her face.
Because truly. Why wouldn't he be the same Adrien? She had known her kitten for years. It wouldn't be like trying to get to know someone completely different. Tikki really was right, as usual. Because Adrien, Chat Noir - he already was her diamond. Maybe that diamond needed some polishing. But that wasn't something that would truly be too difficult, would it?
"Anyway," the other Marinette continued, dropping her hand to her side, "I'm sorry for leaving you two up here alone for so long. I was-" she lowered her eyes, "well, you know. When I finally got the chance to tell him that Alix would be here soon, he decided that he should at least say goodbye."
Marinette stiffened, her heart feeling as if it was about to leap from her chest.
Not once, in the entirety of these past few hours, did she imagine that she would get to speak with Adrien. Not with everything (whatever it was) that had just happened.
What would she even say? Hey, I'm sorry for nearly going crazy while constructing ludicrous misconceptions of your adolescence while you were clearly downstairs dealing with some sort of emotional crisis.
Right. How very empathetic.
"I'm going to get him right now, if that's okay?" She paused. "No. Scratch that. I know exactly how you're feeling," she nervously chuckled. "I'm just going to send him in anyway. Believe me- which you should, because I'm you, obviously-," she waved her hand, tilting her head as she clearly was trying to process what she was saying, "you and he really need to have this conversation."
Nodding her head, as a final acceptance of her statement, she turned towards the door, quickly making her exit.
"Well, that was interesting," Tikki matter-of-factly stated.
"Yup," Marinette stared towards the open, empty, doorway.
Tikki softly landed on Marinette's shoulder. "Are you ready to talk to him?"
"Nope." Marinette simply shook her head, unable to stop picturing Adrien crumpled, completely broken in his wife's arms.
Her arms.
Because in eight years, she would be the one spending her entire afternoon trying to comfort him.
Tikki's cheek nuzzled against Marinette's in a familiar, warm gesture. "I understand," she nearly whispered. "But I also know that this is going to be an important moment for you both, so I'm going to go with Plagg downstairs while you two talk. Okay, Marinette?"
Marinette simply nodded.
With one more quick little hug to the side of Marinette's face, Tikki swiftly flew out of the room.
Finding herself suddenly alone, Marinette rushed into the bathroom, hoping, as she dabbed her cheeks and swelled-up eyes with tissue, that Adrien wouldn't notice she had been crying, too. He needed to be able to properly say goodbye. And making him worry about her right now was the exact opposite of what Marinette wanted.
"Knock, knock," Adrien sheepishly peeked into the open doored bathroom.
Marinette jumped, dropping the tissue into the sink.
"Sheez, cat!" She jerked her entire body, facing his direction, her right palm instinctively clutching at her left bosom. "You nearly gave me a heart-"
She froze - his unkempt hair and puffy, tear-stained face ripping straight through all her safeguarded emotions.
"Oh, Adrien," she rushed across the room, throwing her arms around his midsection.
So what if she had decided to leave all the soothing to the Marinette of the future? She was the one who was here now, and she'd be damned if she didn't show Adrien just how much she loved him. He was hurting. And there was no way she could simply ignore that.
"My sweet Marinette." He began petting the top of her head, loosely wrapping his free arm around her back. His voice had a slight quaver to it - as if it took everything within him to utter that sentence.
"You must not try to change anything about this visit when you are older," he continued, obviously trying to get his point across before breaking down again. "It needs to happen this way. And no matter how much I beg you for information, you can't say anything."
He stopped rubbing her head, instead placing his hand beneath her chin, gently lifting it.
"Can you promise me?" His voice was strained, desperate.
Finally getting a chance to actually look into his eyes, Marinette's heart clenched. His eyes were dazzling, shining with a deep, bright emerald that could only be surfaced from hours of endless crying.
She couldn't understand what he was asking, or why on earth he would willingly, desperately, choose to go through this- but for some reason, whatever happened with Monsieur Agreste, must have been important. Even though Adrien was experiencing so much pain, so much evident heartache, whatever had happened, Adrien believed that it was all somehow worth it. Marinette knew better than to doubt him. He wouldn't ask such a specific request if there wasn't a good reason.
"I promise." She bore into his eyes, hoping her deepest sincerity was evident.
The next moment, Marinette was wrapped into the tightest, most heart wrenching hug she had ever experienced.
"I know." He whispered into her ear. "Thank you." He started to back away, but rather pulled her in closer, making Marinette's breath hitch at the sudden, unexpected movement. "Just so you know." He spoke slightly louder this time, his breath warm against Marinette's ear. "I forgive you for your part in this. So when the time comes for you to make this decision, don't worry about it too much. I may be a bit hot-headed at times, and I'm not going to lie, this hurts like hell. But... I will survive. This day must happen."
He distanced himself just enough to peer into Marinette's eyes, his gaze soft, but filled with such a depth of emotion as to nearly make Marinette start crying again.
"I'm sorry that this is how we have to say goodbye." He removed his right arm from her waist, gently caressing his hand against her cheek instead. "All these years, I had no idea that you were carrying this on your shoulders." He rubbed his thumb across her cheekbone, causing her breath to turn ragged at his foreign, intimate action. "Try to be gentle with me when you're older and experiencing these past few days in a new perspective. As you can see, I can be a bit sensitive." He weakly smiled.
Marinette bit her lips, nodding, her brows scrunching as her heart strangely and painfully palpitated. She didn't know how much more she could take of this. Any more and she would- well, she didn't know what exactly she would do. But she couldn't just continue standing there without breaking down herself. It was too much, too painful seeing such a hurt kitten.
Slowly, Adrien leaned forward, pressing his forehead to hers. "I love you, Marinette. I always have, and I always will. Remember, this is not an ending. You will see me in a few minutes, right?"
She clenched her arms even tighter around him. "I will," she almost choked, remembering her revelation from earlier that morning. The Chat Noir she was returning to was still so lost, lonely, and broken.
"And I promise I will never ignore your pain again," she vowed. "I'm so sorry, Kitty." She backed away just enough to see his face again. "I know that I am not the Marinette from your time, but can I just hold you like this for now?" She smiled. "I'll start here. I will start with comforting the hurting Adrien who is in my arms at this exact moment."
And that's all it took before Adrien's lips started quivering, tears streaming as he pulled Marinette in even tighter, burying his face into her shoulder. His entire body trembled against Marinette's, and no matter how much she wanted to help him, she could no longer stop herself from completely collapsing and crying right along with him - the both of them sinking together, collapsing onto the hard tile.
Marinette had no sense of time when considering the length of their embrace, but at some point the tears stopped flowing, and both of their breaths became more even. Marinette raised her hand, rubbing Adrien's hair, his face still pressed against her shoulder. She opened her eyes, not surprised in the slightest to see her future self standing there - her own Tikki resting cautiously on her shoulder.
"Please take good care of him," she begged, knowing wholeheartedly the woman in question, herself, would always do whatever was needed in order to watch over Adrien.
The other Marinette simply nodded, slowly closing the space between them.
You belong to her. Marinette loosened her grip on Adrien, carefully switching out her place with the older Marinette.
"Alix and Tikki are waiting for you downstairs," the woman whispered, resuming the job of petting Adrien's hair. "Go show that boy how much you love him."
This time, it was Marinette's turn to nod, Tikki's earlier quote not going unnoticed. She carefully stood, her knees sore from the countless minutes against the hard bathroom tile.
Goodbye, Adrien. Marinette mentally said farewell, taking one final, excruciating look at the despondent man pressed against his wife.
Then, she straightened her back, posturing her shoulders, and exited the bathroom, passing through the bedroom, and towards the landing.
It had only been a few days since she first meandered down this hall with Adrien quietly following, carefully keeping his distance so that she could slowly soak in everything. Marinette sighed, looking at all the pictures of her with Adrien lining the walls . So much had changed in such a short amount of time; Marinette could hardly process it. Back then, she had simply been freaking out that she was Adrien's wife, let alone the fact that he was actually Chat Noir and her future self was pregnant with his kitten.
Reaching the top of the stairs, a burning wave of flurries danced through Marinette's body at that final thought. She was one day going to be the mother of Chat Noir's kittens.
For some reason, that thought had yet to cross her mind, and she was almost giddy at the sudden realization. Her hero, the Dark Knight of Paris - he was going to be the father of her children.
She had always imagined what Adrien would be like as a father. Heck, she had even prenamed three of their children and imagined a future hamster. But never once had Marinette thought about what Chat Noir would be like with his future children, and now that the thought was running rampant in her mind, she didn't know if she would ever be able to stop it.
Marinette couldn't keep herself from smiling as she descended down the stairs, visions of Chat Noir cradling their first child against his chest as he tried to calm the young one down. Of course he would be purring - a lullaby that would spoil any child.
Their babies would be the luckiest kids in the world. Of course Chat Noir would be the sweetest, most loving father- even if he did sometimes border the edge of being slightly too dangerous. Because there would be no way that Adrien would pass up on the opportunity of scaling the Eiffel Tower, baby in hand, just to show off the beauty of Paris.
"Marinette!" Tikki chirruped, coming to meet Marinette as she reached the bottom of the stairs. Plagg zoomed past her, rushing by Marinette, up the stairs, towards Adrien - the look of worry on his face clearly evident.
"Oh, Minibug," Alix started from her seat on the couch. "You look terrible. I can't take you back looking like you've just finished crying."
Marinette sniffed, looking incredulously at her adult friend, sitting casually, sipping on some tea. Her kwami, Fluff, was perched lazily next to her on the couch. It had been quite a while since Marinette had been visited by Bunnix, and it was almost surreal seeing her in her own time.
"I know," Marinette admitted, nonchalantly crossing the distance to the lounge chair perpendicular to the couch, sitting down and picking up the cup of tea that had been prepared for her ahead of time. "I'll compose myself. Just give me a minute. I-I'm already feeling a lot better."
She took a long sip, happily welcoming the warmth that slowly took root, spreading and blossoming seemingly everywhere inside her.
"I'll give you all the time you need, girly," Alix uncrossed her legs, leaning forward and grabbing the teapot in the center of the coffee table, refilling her mug. "We've got nothing but time on our side."
"That's true," Marinette kept her mug close to her face, soaking in every ounce of its warmth as she looked to the window, noticing that it was now dark outside.
Alix crossed her legs once again, leaning back and draping her free arm across the back of the couch. "So while we're waiting for that pretty little face of yours to clear up, let's go ahead and get on with it. I know you must be full of questions."
Marinette pulled the cup closer, taking another sip of the heavenly liquid. Throughout the years, Marinette had learned that Alix wasn't one to freely give up information. That's why she would be so assured in giving her the bunny miraculous in the first place, whenever the time came.
No. Alix wouldn't just willy nilly tell Marinette anything - she would only give her enough information that was necessary to protect the timeline.
Lowering her mug to her lap, Marinette thought carefully about just what exactly to ask and how to word her questions.
"Okay," she slowly began. "What makes things different this time?"
"You've got to be more specific than that, Bug. I've watched over countless timelines."
Marinette moved her mug to the table. "You know!" she pointed directly at Alix. "The last time Adrien discovered my identity he ended up somehow getting akumatized and destroying the entirety of Paris."
"The world," Alix corrected. "But what's your point?"
Frustrated, Marinette stood, flailing her arms, no longer thinking of how to carefully word her questions. "You know exactly what my point is! What's going to keep the same thing from happening this time?"
Alix just grinned, taking another sip from her mug.
"Marinette," Tikki chimed in, leaving her seat on the armrest and lowering one of Marinette's arms. "If Bunnix didn't know it was going to be safe, then she wouldn't let you go through with this."
"That's true," Alix winked towards Tikki. "But since I know it's going to bother you, Minibug," she turned back towards Marinette, "I'm going to give you a little hint."
"Really?" Marinette bounced on her heels, her voice maybe a little too excited and high pitched.
Alix simply smiled. "Of course, Marinette. Just think of it as a little dating advice from a wise old friend."
Sitting back down, Marinette leaned forward on the chair. "Alright!" She knocked her knees together- unable to contain her excitement. "I'm listening."
Alix laughed - loud and boisterous - while placing her mug on the table next to Marinette's. "Sometimes I forget how cute you are when you're really excited about something." She smiled, crossing one arm, resting the other elbow on it and pressing her palm against her cheek. "You and Adrien really are the most adorable couple in Paris."
At that, Marinette couldn't stop the blush from spreading on her cheeks.
"You two just need to make sure that you never allow anyone to come between your relationship." Alix firmly commanded, lowering her hand in order to cross both arms. "Trust in your love, stand strong, and stick together. You got that?"
Marinette bit her lips, nodding her head, wondering if Adrien had been akumatised because someone had tried to separate them. He had said it was their love that had destroyed the world. Had this person been successful? Had Adrien been so heartbroken that he had succumbed to Hawkmoth's akuma?
Never again. Marinette decided. There was no way she would ever allow that to happen. They were both older now. Surely they would be able to stand up to anybody that ever tried to break them apart. Their love was definitely stronger than that.
"Thank you," she finally responded, moving from her chair to sit next to Alix on the couch, wrapping her in a bone-crushing hug. "I think I understand."
"I know you do," Alix hugged her back. "Things will get tough for you, Bug, but I promise, you and Adrien will get through it."
_..._
Several minutes later, after much laughing and mindless chatter, an already transformed Bunnix turned towards Marinette. "Are you ready for this, Minibug?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," Marinette bounced nervously on the tips of her toes.
"You remember the plan?" Bunnix raised her brow.
Closing her eyes, Marinette recited, "Focus. Defeat the Akuma. Make sure everything is repaired with my Miraculous. And then- try not to back out of telling Adrien I love him."
"Good." Bunnix opened the portal, holding a handkerchief out to Marinette.
"You've got this," Tikki squeezed Marinette's shoulder.
"Mhm…" Marinette tried to force a grin, grabbing the blindfold from Bunnix, her stomach lurching in dreaded anticipation.
Ever since they had actually started talking seriously about her return, Marinette's entire body felt as if it had been racked over with queasiness. She had known for most of the day that this was coming, but that certainly didn't make the moment any less of a daunting experience.
She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry at the reality of the portal in front of her.
This was it.
This was the moment she was going to go back to see her Adrien.
All those years of carefully guarding her secret, turning Chat Noir down because of her idiotic pining over Adrien... all of that was about to be over.
I'm coming, Kitty. She softly grinned. Your wait for your Lady is finally over.
Taking a deep breath, Marinette tried to relax her tensed shoulders, closing her eyes. She sharply exhaled, pumping her fist to her side. I can do this!
"Tikki," she popped her eyes open, firmly taking a step towards the beckoning portal. "Spots on!"
...
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I am going to work diligently to make the next chapter worthy of your expectations. I've definitely got my work cut out for me.
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