"33478," Adrien murmured, and Ladybug gaped at him.

"No, no, no, you couldn't have-" She barely breathed, her panicking voice moving quickly from inaudible to hysterical.

Adrien quickly cut her off, his eyes widening, "That's- that's not the number of Second Chances, this is only attempt eleven," he assured her quickly.

"Oh, thank god," she let out a breath.

He let out a small chuckle. "Yeah, that…. That would have been bad. Anyways, here's what we're going to do. We're going to use Voyage to Gabriel's room, and find the Grimoire tablet. Then, I'm going to unlock it, and you're going to look for information on how to heal a miraculous user whose health has suffered from a damaged Miraculous. There isn't time to read up on it this time, I'll just direct you to the page next time. Ready?"

Her jaw dropped just a little, but she quickly recovered with a nod. "Voyage!"

They arrived in the room, and Adrien immediately took the tablet, muttering, "33478," as he punched the number in.

Ladybug laughed. "So it was the password then, hm?"

He gave her half a lazy smile, passing the tablet over. "Yeah. Oh right, Mirage!" He activated his ability, silencing and removing both of their presence. They really didn't need Nathalie kicking the door down on them again.

He watched as she scrolled through the document, her eyes flitting from page to page. He didn't interrupt her, as he waited until there was only a minute remaining on the bracelet. He watched her quietly, deep in thought. Ladybug. Marinette.

He wanted to just pause, to confess his undying love for her, tell her just how much it meant to him that she was beside him right now. How, on every reset, she trusted him with everything she was, and how he never would have figured out half of it without her. How she willingly made the choice to give away her identity, such that they could move forward.

He wanted to thank her, for being by his side for years as a superhero duo, he wanted to tell her just how much her kindness to him as Marinette meant. She hadn't been joking when she told Nathalie just how her name alone was enough to prove that she was on Adrien's side. She was everything.

God, he just wanted to scoop her up and kiss her.

But that had to wait, and he was still on the clock. Fortunately, she began speaking while more than a minute remained. "Okay, I found the page I need." She scooched closer to him, placing the tablet between them such that he could see. He simultaneously ignored and reveled in the touch of their legs. "184. This is the most important page. I think there may be a little more here on page 43, that's where it goes into detail about the Peacock Miraculous specifically, but 184 is the one directly about recovery."

Adrien sucked in a breath. So there really was something. Would it work? Was his mother curable? He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Okay. Password 33478, page 184, and maybe 43. 33478, 184, 43." He repeated.

Marinette smirked. "Just, don't open with a huge number this time please. I would like to prevent future heart attacks."

Adrien laughed. "Of course. Second Chance," he spun the bracelet, feeling Marinette's reassuring touch as he was huddled once more in the lair. Carefully, he told her, "Twelve," as he recited the other numbers in his head.

She blinked in acknowledgement. "What progress do we have?"

Adrien grinned. "It's going well. Alright, there's not a lot of time for this one, so listen carefully. We need to open Voyage over to Gabriel's room, where I will give you the Grimoire tablet and direct you to a page. It will be about curing a Miraculous user whose health has suffered from using a damaged Miraculous. I'll need you to see if it is possible to heal someone who has fallen into a coma, and to heal another who is sick."

Marinette's eyes widened once again. "Wait, so then…. If that's…" she shook her head, seemingly reminding herself of the time limit. "Okay, I'm ready." He nodded in response, signaling that she should begin. "Voyage!"

The pair arrived, and like before, he unlocked the tablet and handed it to her, but not before masking their presence with Mirage. Her eyes flew over the page as she frowned, and she moved back and forth between a few pages. He directed his attention to the tablet this time, in an attempt to make sense of himself, but he couldn't make heads or tails of any of it. She was correct, there was quite a bit of strange language that was unrecognizable to him, even in the translated notes.

After about two minutes, she declared, "Okay. It is possible to heal them."

"It- it is?" Adrien whispered.

She caught his eye. "Yes. The ingredients are… somewhat challenging, but I'm assuming we have the guaranteed assistance of Gabriel Agreste to find them, so it should be more than possible. We will be able to save both Mayura and the person in the coma. I assume that is Hawkmoth's reasoning for going evil?"

Adrien let his jaw drop in awe. Not even five minutes of knowledge, and she was able to gather so much. And… "I can't believe it. This is going to work." The gravity of it all threatened to hit him. Could this really be ended without a fight?

Marinette smiled. "Yes, but now we have to figure out how to convey this to Hawkmoth. What should we do?"

Adrien frowned. "There should be an akuma currently tearing up Paris, and this would be a lot easier without it. We're going to have to reset again," he mused.

Marinette nodded idly, going into thinking mode. "And since we're resetting, we have a chance to try out several strategies to deliver the information to him, such that he doesn't immediately balk at the idea of an alternate solution. Sunken cost fallacy and all that… Plus, it may be hard to convince him as superheroes."

Adrien made a wry smile. "Good for me, I already know both of us are willing to give up our identities to save the cause, Marinette."

Her jaw dropped. "Wh- you- I-"

He laughed lightly, having the slight feeling that it wasn't the time, but he needed to show her at least shred of his gratitude. "You really saved me; a couple runs ago. Nathalie wasn't believing my innocent Adrien act, so you dropped the transformation. You… you were amazing. You are amazing." He realized revealing himself at the moment would only baffle her, so he stepped around the facts to make the point he wished to make. They held each other's gazes, Adrien watching as a light blush rose to her cheeks.

"A-anyways," he interrupted, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck nervously. "We're running out time. What should we do next Chance?"

Marinette closed her eyes. "Okay," she began. "Tell me about the cure, the coma, and everything, as quickly as you can. Then, we'll draft a method of sorts to deliver the information to give him. Likely a speech. The try after, you can deliver it through an illusion, and I can listen in too. If it works, then… it works, I guess," she giggled. "But if it is unattainable, Chat," she caught his eye seriously. "We don't have to do this all in one go. We've already learned so much."

He swallowed nervously, fully intending to do it all in one go. He was touched by her concern, wishing he had taken it back when he was Aspik, but this time he knew it would work, in far fewer Chances. "I will only reset as long as it will help," he assured her. He then took a deep breath, steeling himself for the next reset. "Second Chance!"

"Thirteen," he told her.

Once more, she blinked. "What progress do we have?"

Adrien took a deep breath. "We're… we're really close. This Chance is going towards making a speech to convince him once and for all to give up the Miraculous."

Marinette's jaw dropped. "That's… That much? We have that much information?"

Adrien simply nodded in response. "It seems your Ladybug Luck has shined upon us at last, m'lady," he smirked. "Alright, listen closely. Emilie Agreste is below the mansion in a Miraculous induced coma, and Gabriel wants the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous in order to make a wish to restore her to life. However, there is a cure in the Grimoire, since the coma was created by Miraculous, she can be brought back without the wish. We're afraid of him thinking it's a trick or being unwilling to listen for some reason."

She listened with wide eyes. "I see…. It likely wouldn't help to straight up tell him as superheroes, would it." Adrien nodded in agreement.

"We had been thinking last time that I would make an illusion of sorts to tell him, but I'm not sure what of. I don't think we should lie to him, however. Because as soon as the illusion drops, it would make it seem as though the information is a façade as well."

She closed her eyes in concentration. "Perhaps we could tell him straight that it's an illusion, and that we have something to tell him. Like, Ladybug and Chat Noir materialize in front of him, and say something like, 'Hawkmoth, don't be alarmed, but we have something we need to talk to you about.'"

Adrien nodded. "I can try that." He was still a little concerned about it but being straight up about the mirage may make it simpler. "And if it doesn't work?"

"Maybe you could have the mirage be us, as we are right now?" Adrien frowned, not quite following. "I mean, you could have the two of us appear behind him, as if we dropped the shield, and I will stand in the place of my illusion, but you would put the words in my mouth, and it would drop to have me standing in the place, as if there was never an illusion to begin with."

"Why wouldn't we just straight up tell him then, as we are?"

She rolled her eyes. "Because something could go wrong. That's the point of the Second Chance, isn't it? We need to tread carefully."

Adrien simply nodded, "Yeah, yeah, makes sense." He took a deep breath. "So, what should be said? Likely by you, well, your illusion, since you're the leader between the two of us."

"Partners, not leader," she interrupted sternly.

Adrien smiled warmly. "Yes, partners. But you're the one with the inspiring, heroic speeches."

She laughed. "Okay, I'll concede to that. But I don't think you have the time to memorize anything I'd come up with."

"Any tips, at least?" Adrien urged. "I'm thinking, 'Hawkmoth, we've come to bargain,' as we burst through the glass, shattering it dramatically, all the while flaunting our ability to turn back time, and the fact that he's stuck in my eternal Second Chance time loop."

Marinette snorted, but the grin tugging on the corners of her face told him she appreciated his joke. He missed the eye roll beneath her glasses, but it made the grin more touching. "This is why I make the speeches silly kitty; this is serious. Okay, so…"

She paused, thinking. "For the first one, with Ladybug and Chat Noir directly appearing before him, just straight up tell him that we know why he is Hawkmoth, and that we have an alternate solution. I don't think the dialogue should change much for him seeing us like this, but you'll have to tell me to match up with my other self. And after that, whatever you come up with, maybe have civilians tell him?"

Adrien nodded, thinking. As much as he wanted her to just make the speech and give to him, that really wouldn't be possible under the constraint of five minutes. After all, it takes the entire time to make it, then he would have to memorize it, so he's really just going to have to wing it.

She sighed. "I wish I could give you more than that. But if it doesn't work these three times, I think we should try it without Second Chance, another time. We'll just purify the akuma and try again. We don't have to do it in one go."

Despite it being the third? Fourth? Adrien wasn't sure how many times she had given him this caution, but in any case, he still felt the same rush of warmth that it gave the first. It was reassuring, to know that she was cautioning against the nigh infinite loop he had created for himself as Aspik. (Not his strongest moment….) Just like her hand on his arm after every reset, it didn't at all feel like a broken record, rather a recurring reassurance, an iron proof towards her kindness.

"Of course," he smiled. "Okay, so…" he closed his eyes, visualizing what he would create in the coming chance. He hoped it would work on the first try, but he highly doubted it would, coming from the mouths of Ladybug and Chat Noir. The first attempt would be dedicated more to getting a feel on how Hawkmoth would take to an alternate option. Or if he would listen to superheroes at all. He hoped he wouldn't have to pull the Adrien and Marinette card as he had with Nathalie, as this would be saved, but it may be necessary.

Would Marinette be willing to out herself like that? She did so before with Nathalie, knowing it would be reset, and that Adrien, well, that Chat would retain the knowledge. But if he outed them to Hawkmoth in an attempt to convince him, and it worked, it would be kept.

No, he wouldn't do that. He owed her that much, he wouldn't learn her identity and immediately proceed to use it. She had put her trust in him, he couldn't break it like that. There should be another way.

But if he wasn't willing to out them, then what civilians could speak with him truthfully? As soon as the mirage drops, Hawkmoth may be unwilling to hear a word they say.

Adrien sincerely hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Perhaps he could still have Adrien come up, after all, it would be an image of himself. He did know about the alternate options, after all, so it wouldn't be a lie.

As his hand hovered over the bracelet nervously, he took another deep breath, attempting to calm himself. His mind chose that moment to wander, as he realized he had not thought of Hawkmoth as his father, and as his secret identity as only a means to an end.

It was his father….

He shut down the thought instantly once again. He didn't have the time to afford his emotions. He had to do this. He had to push though, for Ladybug. For Paris. For Maman, even. He winced.

"…Kitty? You okay?" Marinette whispered, lightly touching his arm.

He startled, jumping to look her in the eye. "O-oh, uh," he hesitated, and gulped. "Yeah, just… preparing myself. Trying not to process everything yet," he ran his hand along the back of his neck again.

She frowned. "Trying not to process?"

He nodded. "I don't really have the time to explain…" he sighed. "It's a lot. I have to stay focused."

She tightened her grip on his arm. "Chat. I don't know everything, but… Make sure to tell me after, okay? You don't have to go through this alone."

His eyes stung slightly, threatening tears. He shook them away. "Thank you," he managed. How was it possible for one person to be so perfect? With yet another deep breath, he spun the bracelet once more.

AN: Thank you as always for reading! I just had to give Marinette a heart attack there. There's not a chance Adrien will get up that high this time, but there had to be that moment anyways... Think before you speak, boy! That and, my dude seriously needs a moment to process things...
Anyways, sorry I missed an update, but I will be rolling em out now! Thank you for your patience!