It didn't take long at all for the superheroes to gather at the warehouse. Everyone was tense, but there was a fair bit of determination and optimism in their group.

The plan was in place. They all knew what they were going to do. The plan was straightforward and in theory, should be easy enough. There weren't too many superheroes that could overcomplicate things or get in each other's way, and they were all pretty experienced.

"Okay, team, we know what to do," Ladybug told them, her expression completely serious. "Vixen, go ahead and do the Mirage. If you want to settle the Mirage of one of us over yourself to get closer and keep an eye on the akuma, that would be great. If your timer runs low before we can get there, you can leave. I can collect the Miraculous in a couple days." She glanced around. "That goes for everyone, really."

Vixen nodded sharply. "Of course. See y'all on the other side!"

With that, she vanished out the window.

"We'll give her a couple of minutes, then go in," Ladybug told the rest of the group. "We'll be working out of here. And remember- no banter. I'll need to give Seabiscuit instructions for the Portal, and any other talking will get in the way of that."

"The banter can come after Hawkmoth has had his Miraculous confiscated and is in custody," Hornet said, nodding. She paused. "Ah, what will we be doing with Mayura? I know that that plan was still up in the air."

"We want to have Hawkmoth's arrest be low-profile until we have her in custody," Ladybug said. Then she glanced towards Chat Noir. "And then- Seabiscuit, you'll have to recharge. Ms. Sancoeur is out of town, so we'll have to use Portal again. Chat Noir, did you happen to get an address...?"

Chat Noir nodded. "I did. And an itinerary." Nathalie, ever-prepared, had had her post-Fashion Week Break itinerary up on her tablet when Adrien stuck his head in to ask permission to go study at Marinette's house. She had been distracted by something on her computer, and Adrien had snuck a stealthy photo of the itinerary. He opened his baton, then tapped the screen. A moment later, a piece of paper spat out. Chat Noir pulled it out, flipping it over to reveal a printout of the photo he had taken. "We can look at it again when we finish, but I think we should be able to go to the house and jump on her when she returns."

Ladybug nodded as she took the itinerary. "That sounds good. Fingers crossed that the timing works out- and that's Vixen," she interrupted herself as her yo-yo let out a ding. "It's time to go. Sass, Tikki, combine!"

With a flash of light, Ladybug's outfit took on a few streaks of green. She glanced down at herself, then cringed.

"Oh, I look like a Christmas tree," she groaned. "Bad combination."

Chat Noir couldn't help but laugh, some of his tension easing away. Ladybug did look a bit ridiculous, but he had to admit that he was glad that she had taken the Snake instead of asking him to take that role. He might have had more experience using the Snake- and more experience than she knew about- but there was also the risk that he would freeze up and not be as effective.

Not that she knew that.

"Okay, focus," Ladybug told them all, smoothing down the greenish skirt that had appeared with her fusion. She flicked her bracelet, setting the timer. "Seabiscuit, go!"

The next couple of minutes, when Chat Noir tried to remember them in the future, all merged together into a little bit of a frantic blur. Ladybug had given Seabiscuit quick instructions to fix his approach to the lair, and hit it just right- Chat Noir found out later, after he asked- after only three tries, opening the Portal right behind Hawkmoth. As soon as the portal opened, Hornet was through with Sting activated.

Hawkmoth hadn't even had a chance to react before they were on him. Chat Noir ripped the Butterfly Miraculous off of him, turning away before the light could fade and Hawkmoth could turn back into his father in front of his eyes.

He already knew that Hawkmoth and Gabriel Agreste were the same. He didn't need to see that, and he didn't need to see the seething hatred and anger in his father's eyes. It would be too much.

"Hornet, please call the police and deliver Mr. Agreste to them when they arrive," Ladybug directed, and Chat Noir could feel her step up behind him, still focused. "Seabiscuit, can you recharge? We need to Portal over to the house that Ms. Sancoeur is staying at in the next couple of minutes."

Seabiscuit nodded. It didn't take him long at all to detransform and recharge, and then they were hopping through another Portal to Nathalie's family's house. It was empty- they were scheduled to be at the beach, and return for a late lunch- so the superheroes could head down to the first floor unhindered.

From there, it was somehow both not a long wait at all and an eternity before Nathalie returned and they ambushed her. One failed attempt at a transformation later, and they had the Peacock in their hands and Nathalie in handcuffs. Her family was gaping as the superheroes took her away, and Chat Noir couldn't help but feel bad for them.

He had had time to get used to the idea of his father being a criminal and having to arrest him. Nathalie's family had just gotten hit in the face with the shock.

"I think we should send one of the city's akuma victim counselors to them," Ladybug murmured to him as they Portaled back to Paris. "They could probably use some help coming to terms with her being a supervillain."

Chat Noir nodded. He would probably want to do the same thing as Adrien, but he had the extra complication of also being Chat Noir and actually having to deal with all of the extra baggage that came with having to fight his own father. At least he had both Marinette and Plagg to talk to. "Yeah. That's a good idea."

"Ah, and here's villain number two," the lead officer commented when they brought Nathalie down. He and his team took hold of Nathalie, pushing her into the back of the second patrol car. "We've got Hawkmoth in the other one."

"Great." Ladybug smiled, then froze at the sound of a crash across the city. "Ah, would you mind waiting here? We can give a statement, but the last akuma is still at large."

"Right, right, of course!"

"Ready?" Ladybug asked, turning to Chat Noir. She smiled, small but warm. "One last akuma?"

"One last akuma," Chat Noir agreed, letting out a breath. He was starting to feel a little shaky with relief- his father's arrest was over, Nathalie's arrest was over, now they were on familiar ground with an akuma battle again- so getting running again before his knees gave in would be a good idea. "Let's go!"

The final akuma was chasing after a retreating Vixen when they arrived. Vixen's timer was going wild, and she shot them a relieved look as she darted into the privacy of an alleyway to finally detransform. Her Mirages had evidently gotten hit out of existence earlier, so she hadn't been able to use them as cover, but they had arrived just in time.

"That's enough from you, akuma!" Ladybug yelled. "Get ready to be defeated!"

"That's right!" Chat Noir chimed in, rushing in to join her. "Hawkmoth is gone- and soon you will be, too!"

The final akuma battle- more than a skirmish than a battle, since the akuma had been taken off guard by the announcement that Hawkmoth had been defeated- was over in a flash, and then Ladybug and Chat Noir returned to the Agreste mansion. The police officers were still there, though the cars with Mr. Agreste and Nathalie had just pulled away. People had started arriving at the scene, no doubt curious about why the famous Gabriel Agreste was getting arrested. The officers were keeping them back, at least for the time being.

"Ladybug!"

Chat Noir frowned at the small voice, and both he and his partner drew to a stop before they reached the mansion. "Uh, what was that?"

"It's me!" A small head popped out from Ladybug's ponytail, and Chat Noir recognized Nooroo at once. Apparently the Butterfly hadn't been deactivated when Ladybug took it. "Before you head home, there's something I must show you."

Ladybug and Chat Noir exchanged a look. Ladybug looked worried. "Something more?"

Nooroo wrung his tiny paws. "Y-yes, there's something more. And with Gabriel arrested, it will need to be taken care of sooner rather than later."

"We need to talk to the police first," Ladybug decided after a pause. "We can just give them the basics for now. They're used to us having to leave pretty quickly after battles."

Chat Noir nodded. His gut was churning again, wondering what surprises might be waiting inside. "Yeah. Let's go."

Ladybug jumped down, and Chat Noir wasn't far behind. She approached the chef of police confidently, looking every bit the picture of a superhero that no one was going to cross. He let her take the lead, figuring that she would be a better speaker than him, especially now that he was undeniably distracted.

What did Nooroo need to show them? Something that needs to be taken care of sooner rather than later didn't sound like something innocent, like the Miraculous book. Maybe there was yet another Miraculous, maybe from another box, and Nooroo wanted it to be reclaimed before anyone else could stumble on it and use it for evil.

But then why wouldn't Hawkmoth have used it at all? That just didn't make sense- unless he had just recently found it. But he still would have been frothing at the mouth to try it out, surely. He would have been wearing it, more likely than not, and Nooroo would have had to warn them about it right away instead of waiting for the akuma battle to finish.

So that suggested that whatever Nooroo wanted to show them was something else. And it was almost guaranteed to be something- well, bad.

...maybe it was better not to think about it too much. They would know soon enough, once Ladybug finished talking to the officer in charge.

"We can do a full press conference later this week," Ladybug was telling the chief of police when Chat Noir tuned back in to their surroundings. There were a few news cameras nearby, but they had yet to approach fully. He didn't doubt, though, that their microphones were picking up on every word his partner said. "I'm sure that everyone has a lot of questions about Hawkmoth's defeat and what happened, but- as I'm sure you can imagine- we're all pretty exhausted, and we still have to check on something in the mansion. We'll keep in touch so that we can decide on a good time."

"Thank you, Ladybug," Officer Auclair told her, beaming. "And we'll certainly be doing some interrogation of our prisoners and a sweep of the mansion, plus a number of interviews with people there. We'll let you know about anything we find immediately."

"Thank you." Ladybug smiled at him, and then her eyes flicked to the side, no doubt completely aware of the lurking reporters. "I should tell you, before you do that- we discovered Hawkmoth's identity thanks to the help of his son. Adrien spotted his father with the butterfly kwami and let Chat Noir and I know at once. We wouldn't have been able to defeat Hawkmoth today otherwise."

Both officers and reporters perked up at that, and Chat Noir had to let out a sigh of relief. He had to guess that without Ladybug's comment, he probably would have been dragged out into the public eye under a rather unfavorable spotlight, people wondering about how much he might have known. With Ladybug's comment- well, people were still going to stare and want to get interviews, no doubt, but they would be much less suspicious.

That was probably the best that he could hope for, honestly.

"That is very good information to know, thank you," Officer Auclair told Ladybug. He stepped back, clearly giving her the go-ahead to leave. "And thank you to all of the superheroes for defeating the supervillains!"

The superheroes waved- once to the police, once to the press- and then leapt over the walls surrounding the mansion. Nooroo phased through the door, popping the locks so that the superheroes could get in. Ladybug took the lead, glancing backwards to make sure that Chat Noir was still with her.

"We'll have to go to his office," Nooroo told them, flitting up ahead. "And then use his elevator- I hope I remember the code! We might accidentally end up in the upper lair first."

Chat Noir scooched closer to Ladybug, his nerves mounting. "There's more than one lair?"

"You'll see."

They fell silent as they followed Nooroo into the abandoned office. Their footsteps echoed across the floor, but no one came out to see what they were doing there. Maybe the household staff had already left the house, either because clearly Mr. Agreste wasn't going to be coming back or because the police had already asked them to step out for questioning.

"Step here," Nooroo told them, pointing to a spot on the floor. "You'll have to be close- it's only meant for one person, really." He paused. "Unless you want to go one at a-"

"No," Ladybug said firmly. "We'll stand close together."

Chat Noir nodded, hoping that Ladybug couldn't hear how fast his heart was racing as she stood in front of him, her back against his chest. His theory- his hope- that the thing that Nooroo wanted to show them was just another Miraculous was looking less and less likely. He couldn't think of any reason why his father would keep anything Miraculous-related somewhere other than his office or the lair.

Nooroo flitted over to the painting in front of them, punching in a series of buttons in quick succession. There was a pause, and then the floor they were standing on started moving down- and started moving down fast.

Ladybug's hand tightened around Chat Noir's, her shoulders stiffening. Chat Noir wrapped one arm around her waist, hoping that he wasn't trembling.

He didn't like this.

The floor-elevator shot downwards, lower and lower. There were a few lights along the path, just barely illuminating the tunnel that they were pelting down. It was undeniably spooky, and Chat Noir couldn't stop himself from worrying about what they would do if the elevator broke. The tunnel was tiny, just the width of the tiny platform that he and Ladybug were crammed together on, and it was long. Even when they were moving, he was feeling claustrophobic.

He had to get off. He had to get off now, couldn't this ride be over-

"Hold on, kitty," Ladybug murmured, squeezing his hand. "You're okay. I'm here."

Chat Noir just buried his face in his partner's hair in response. It was better than seeing the tiny tunnel flash past, though it didn't stop him from knowing that the walls were so incredibly close.

Half an eternity- probably just a few seconds- passed before the elevator came to a stop. Chat Noir kept his face down, not wanting to see how small of a space the elevator had taken them to, who knew how many meters before the surface. After a moment, Ladybug squeezed his fingers.

"It's a big space, kitty. You can open your eyes."

Chat Noir blinked, raising his head. Then he blinked at the giant chasm in front of them.

"This is under the city?"

"At least there's not an apartment building above all of this," Ladybug commented, grimacing. "Honestly, the most that should be above it is a park. Then if anything happened..."

She didn't finish her thought, instead stepping off the elevator platform. Chat Noir followed her, eyes flicking around.

There was something about this place that just screamed creepy to him, even without going further into it. There was rust on the walkway that was going over flowing water- if that gave way and they got dumped into that water, that could turn super dangerous really fast- and the lights on the sides of the cavern were just creepy, like ones that he might see in a haunted house. And then, at the far end of the cavern...

There was some muted light coming from somewhere, shining right down on what looked like an underground garden. And in the middle of that garden...

"Nooroo, what's that?" Ladybug asked, sharp and worried. She rested a hand against Chat Noir's arm, making him pause. He had started forward without realizing it, almost drawn to the garden. "This isn't a trap, is it?"

Nooroo shook his head, looking sad. "No trap. Just..."

He trailed off. Ladybug looked worried, but took the lead up the walkway. Chat Noir followed, his ears twitching every which way to try to pick up any sounds that were out of place. Any extra footsteps could be another enemy lying in wait, any excessive creaking from the metal could be a section of the walkway about to give out on them, any out-of-place clicks could be a trap set by Mr. Agreste.

And then Ladybug let out a quiet oh.

Chat Noir glanced forward, pulling his eyes off a flickering shadow on the wall that had caught his attention. Then he froze.

There, in front of them, was his mom. She lay in a glass container, her eyes closed, looking just she had on the day that she had vanished. She was pale in the murky light filtering down into the cavern, but she- she looked fine.

Was she just asleep? Maybe she had fallen under a spell, like Sleeping Beauty or something? Chat Noir's heart skipped a beat at the thought, then soared, hopeful. Maybe they could do something to break the spell, and then- and then-

He might have essentially lost his father because of the arrest, but maybe he could have his mom back.

"Nooroo, what happened?" Ladybug asked quietly. She stepped up next to Chat Noir, her shoulder brushing against his arm. "Can we help?"

"Emilie fell into a coma after using the Peacock for too long," Nooroo told them. He flitted around anxiously, flying up to Mrs. Agreste with a sad look on his face. "It was broken, so it was draining her and damaging her health every time that she used it. So Gabriel used magic to keep her alive as long as possible, and then to preserve her body after-"

The kwami kept talking, but Chat Noir couldn't hear him anymore over the sound of blood rushing in his ears, his heart dropping as Nooroo's words properly sank in. His mom wasn't in a coma anymore. She- she was actually gone. Dead. There was no coming back. No way to help her anymore.

No.

He- had had thought that he had come to terms with the possibility of his mom being dead years ago. She had been missing for ages, and her health hadn't been great before that. He had grieved, he had done a private memorial to her, and he had moved on. But then he had seen her, and for a moment- a glorious, terrible moment- he thought that maybe he could have her back. She looked fine. She looked like she was just asleep.

But she was actually gone.

Chat Noir's knees buckled, his breath coming faster. The whiplash from hope to grief was too much, too fast, too overwhelming. He couldn't think, couldn't breathe, couldn't-

He had to get out. He needed to leave, now, he needed- needed-

"I need Marinette," Chat Noir managed. Maybe his mom was gone, maybe his father was a supervillain, but Marinette knew both sides of him and cared about him and was there for him and gave the best hugs and had been there when he found out about his dad and- "I- I need Marinette-"

"Kitty?" Ladybug sounded alarmed. Her arm slid around him, pulling him close to her. "Oh, gosh. Chat Noir-"

"I need Marinette," Chat Noir insisted. "Pl- please, I need-"

"Oh." Ladybug sounded worried. There was a pause, then, "I'm here, kitty. I've got you."

Chat Noir shook his head furiously, pressing his forehead into her shoulder as she pulled him closer to him. Ladybug was great usually, but she didn't know him. They were friends and partners and had an incredible bond, but Marinette had been his- his pillar for the past couple weeks. "N-no, I want Marinette, she's-"

"I'm right here, Adrien," Ladybug said again, rubbing his shoulder. "I've got you. We can go home soon, I promise. Then we can cuddle in my room. My parents will be fine with it, you know how much they love you. We'll all help you." She pressed her cheek to his. "Okay?"

Chat Noir startled at that, pulling himself back to stare at his partner.

She knew his name. How? Only Marinette knew his name. Maybe she had told Ladybug, except- no. Marinette wouldn't betray his trust like that, and he hadn't noticed Ladybug treating him any different than normal before. Maybe she had just guessed right when he broke down-?

But no. She had mentioned her room, and her parents knowing him which suggested-

He couldn't be this lucky.

"I didn't want to tell you like this," Ladybug murmured, reaching out and pulling him close again. Her thumb stroked his cheek, wiping away his tears. "Tikki and I thought it would be best to wait a couple of days to let things settle down so that we wouldn't overwhelm you with another reveal, but..."

She trailed off. Chat Noir still stared down at her, trying to see past the mask and make out Marinette's features underneath Ladybug's transformation. It was hard, though that might have been because he really couldn't see much of anything right now. Tears were still leaking out of his eyes, making everything blurry. Her voice, though- now that she mentioned it, if Chat Noir hadn't known that it was Ladybug speaking, he probably would have guessed that it was Marinette.

Well. Apparently he would have been right either way.

"Nooroo, how long will Mr. Agreste's spell keep?" Ladybug asked after a minute's pause. Her fingers had threaded through his hair, petting him gently. It felt good, but in a distant sort of way. "If we could have a couple days..."

"Uh...a day or two?" Nooroo offered. "It had to be recast pretty often."

"And if we took her out of the, ah, case?"

"It would break right away."

"Okay." Ladybug let out a long breath. "Once we reclaim the Horse Miraculous, I can jump in here and- and bring her to the right people. The police, probably. They'll know what to do." She hugged Chat Noir close. "We should go now, kitty. Let's get you home."

"But Maman-"

"There- there's nothing we can do to help, kitty." Ladybug's voice wavered, threatening to break, and Chat Noir distantly realized that she was only just managing to hold herself together as well. "I wish there was, but..."

"She died two years ago," Nooroo volunteered quietly. "And had been barely holding on before that."

Two years. That- that had been several years after she vanished. If they- if they had known, if his father had told the superheroes instead of doing whatever it was that he had been trying to accomplish, would they have been able to save her then? If Hawkmoth hadn't driven Master Fu off and had instead approached him to ask for help- if he had seen the Temple and the other guardians return and had called off his attacks then to just ask for help- maybe his mom would be alive now. Maybe he could have had his family again.

But now it was too late.

"We can give her a proper funeral and burial," Ladybug told Chat Noir quietly, shifting against him for a moment before bending down and heaving him up into her arms in a princess hold, just before his knees could fully give way. She staggered for a second under his weight, then caught herself. "She deserves that, rather than being left down here. But we don't need to do anything today, and-" Ladybug's voice wavered again before she caught it. "I can take this set-up to the police tomorrow by myself, so you don't have to see it again."

"I want to help," Chat Noir managed through his tears, curling up against his partner- his best friend, his Marinette- as best as he could. His breath was coming faster, his throat feeling uncomfortably tight, but he had to tell her. He had to make sure that she would let him help. He needed to help. "I want- I'm her son, I should help. I just can't-"

"Shh," Ladybug soothed, pressing her cheek against the side of his head. "Okay, we can try to work with that. Nooroo, where's the spell? If we can cast it again, maybe buy ourselves another week to recover..."

"I can show the spell to you later. Tomorrow, perhaps."

"Thank you." Ladybug squeezed Chat Noir tighter to her. "Would that be okay, kitty? We use the spell once more to keep her- to give ourselves some time," she corrected hastily. "And then when you're ready, we can move her?"

Chat Noir nodded, sharp and jerky. He could do that.

The next few minutes flew by in a blur. They hadn't gone back up the elevator- Ladybug had clearly picked up that he wouldn't be able to handle it- and had instead forced their way up through the skylight. Chat Noir blanked out after that, and only came back several minutes later, detransformed and bundled up in a blanket on Marinette's bed, feeling completely exhausted and wrung out. Marinette herself was next to him, curled up against his side.

"I think my kid's back," Plagg announced, flitting down to land in Adrien's lap- or at least where Adrien's lap would be, buried under several layers of blanket. "Finally! I was starting to get worried, it's been forever. Adrien?"

Adrien swallowed, blinking at Plagg. His eyes felt dry and scratchy. "My- my mom-"

"I know, kid." Plagg let out a comforting purr, pressing up against Adrien. "Marinette told me. I'm so sorry. I wish we could have done something."

Adrien nodded, swallowing again. "She's gone."

Plagg could only purr.

"Nooroo wanted me to pass on his apologies," Marinette said quietly, rubbing her hand against Adrien's arm. "He didn't know that you were Chat Noir, so he didn't know to warn us beforehand."

"He still should have, I think!" another voice piped up, and Adrien startled as Tikki appeared at the foot of the bed. "I think anyone would have appreciated a heads-up. But it had become normal to him after being with Mr. Agreste for so long, so he didn't think of that."

"Oh," Adrien managed to croak, watching as Tikki floated across the bed, struggling to carry something limp and dark- a washcloth? "Okay."

"He and Duusu have gone back into the box for now," Marinette told him quietly, reaching across the bed to take the thing- it was a washcloth- from Tikki. She shifted, adjusting her seat, then started wiping down Adrien's face, washing off the dried trails of tears. Adrien closed his eyes, enjoying the cool, refreshing feel. "Any questions can wait. You got a bad shock."

"Mmm." Adrien relaxed into Marinette's touch, enjoying the attention. He couldn't make himself move, not that he would probably be able to with how snugly she had wrapped him up. Marinette kept wiping down his face, then gently pressed the washcloth to his eyes. It felt good against the puffy skin. He waited for a few minutes, then spoke again. "Mari?"

"Mmhmm?"

"You're Ladybug?"

There was a sigh, and then Marinette sat back. Adrien blinked open his eyes, distantly noting that they felt better already, not quite so swollen and puffy. Marinette was sitting facing him, but her eyes were on her lap. "Yeah. That- that wasn't how I planned on telling you, I'm sorry."

"We knew it was a possibility that something might happen and you would have to do a battlefield reveal, but we- all three of us- thought that the chances of something like that happening was almost nonexistent," Plagg chimed in, flying up into Adrien's line of sight. "But we figured that if we told you- well, the chances of you not being ready and things backfiring somehow would probably be a bigger concern. And we couldn't think of a way to ask without giving things away."

"I wanted to," Marinette said quietly. "So that you wouldn't have to worry about having to tell Ladybug when I already knew, and so that you could know that I was going to be there for you on both sides of the mask. But you were so insistent on Ladybug not knowing, I didn't know if telling you anyway would help or not. If I had known-"

Adrien managed to shake his head. "There- there wasn't any way of knowing. If I hadn't dug in my heels so much about not letting Ladybug know who I was-"

"Okay, okay, let's not get carried away with blaming ourselves," Plagg interjected quickly. "Things could have gone differently, we get that. Hindsight is 20/20 and all that, huzzah."

Adrien had to smile at that. Plagg never changed.

"I'm glad everything is out in the open now, at least," Marinette said after a minute. "I've been trying to figure out how I could tell you, but I hadn't been coming up with anything. Like, would the best way be to just saunter up to your room with a cupcake, knock, and go 'surprise, I'm Ladybug! Have a cupcake!'"

Snorting, Adrien shook his head. "Why a cupcake and not macarons? Or cake? Why is there food involved at all?"

"Bribery?" Marinette suggested weakly, turning back around to settle down at his side. "Minor distraction?"

"Oh, bug." Adrien nuzzled down next to her. As if she would ever need to bribe him to- what? Not be upset with her? She had just been trying her best to respect his wishes and not make things harder for him. He could recognize that much. Adrien paused for a beat, then added, "Ah, just in the interest of full disclosure, I don't think I could eat anything right now. I think- I think my stomach is all twisted up into knots. I'd be sick if I even tried."

"I'm not surprised," Marinette admitted. "I'm feeling a bit ill, too, and I didn't get as big of a shock as you did. Don't feel like you have to eat unless you actually want to." She started rubbing his back again. "Maman came up while you were out, so she knows- sort of knows, at least- what happened, so she already knows not to expect us at dinner. I didn't tell her that we're Ladybug and Chat Noir," she added quickly. "Just that- that they had found your mom and that- that nothing could be done." Her voice got quieter with every word, and Adrien guessed that she regretted bringing it up again. They had more or less changed topics to something less unpleasant before, moving into safer topics for discussion. Now they were right back where they had started.

Adrien felt nausea welling up again, the image of his mother just lying there flashing through his mind again. He forcibly pushed it away, not wanting to break down again. "Okay."

"She said that she's going to look up food that should be less likely to upset your stomach so she can make it for dinner," Marinette added. "So that there will be leftovers for us to eat whenever we feel ready."

Adrien nodded again. "Okay."

"Do- do you want to maybe lie down and take a nap?" Marinette suggested after a moment. "I can unwrap the blankets so that you don't overheat. It might help you feel better."

A nap sounded like a great idea, actually. The cool washcloth had woken him up a little before, but now that Marinette mentioned sleep, that was all Adrien wanted to do. "Yes, please."

"Okay." Marinette pushed herself up and made short work of the blankets, freeing Adrien. "You can scoot down now so that you can lay down properly."

"But this is your bed!" Adrien protested, pushing past the approaching fog as best he could. "I don't want to take your bed away-"

Marinette giggled. "You don't take up that much room. And I don't mind, kitty. Really." She helped him slide down, then arranged her pillow under his head. "How's that?"

"Good. Are you sure-"

"Positive."

"Okay," Adrien managed around a yawn. He reached out, even as his eyes drifted closed, and his fingers found Marinette's. "Stay with me?"

Marinette threaded her fingers through his, giving them a light squeeze. "Always."

The funeral for Emilie Agreste was a quiet affair. Since her remaining (non-jailed) family- Adrien, his aunt, and his cousin- didn't want it to become a public spectacle, the whole thing was private, by-invitation-only, and had bouncers at the doors. Amelie had managed to track down a handful of Emilie's friends, and Adrien had invited a few of his own friends for support.

And the Dupain-Chengs, of course. He couldn't ask for better support than them. They had closed the bakery for several days so that they could be available for him, even if he had ended up only wanting Marinette's company for a large chunk of that time. They made sure to stock their cupboards with plenty of foods that he could eat even if he was feeling queasy, and hadn't put any pressure on him to eat when he didn't feel up to it. They had even done the work of reaching out to his aunt for him, relaying the news when Adrien didn't think that he could do it, and had handled most of the correspondence about funeral arrangements until Adrien was more ready. While Adrien was spending time with Sabine, Ladybug ventured out on her own to tell the police about their discovery and to cast the spell to give them a couple more days before they would have to deal with Mrs. Agreste.

Going into that cavern again and Portaling the case with Mrs. Agreste in it out a week after their discovery had probably been the hardest thing Adrien had ever had to do. It was hard not to let the memories of shock and grief overwhelm him again, and to keep himself composed while delivering the body to the police. But he had managed it.

And then he went back to the Dupain-Cheng house, tried to drown himself in the shower, and then curled up in Marinette's bed, because it was comfy and Marinette was nearby and she had loads of blankets that he could burrow beneath that smelled like her. She curled up next to him for a bit, then headed down to the main part of her room to give him some space and get some sewing done. The sound of the sewing machine had been really comforting. Adrien dozed off to the sound, happy knowing that his Lady was so close nearby.

He was going to go right back to their house as soon as the funeral was over. Maybe being at the funeral wasn't as hard as getting his mom's body out- or finding it the first time- but it was still pretty draining, and there was really no better place to recover from that. The Dupain-Cheng home just felt so safe, comforting and warm and welcoming.

He would spend time in his own room, but it just... it was different, and it didn't have Marinette in it. Maybe if he wanted to spend some time alone then he would go to his own room, but Adrien liked the quiet company.

The day dragged on even with the limited guest list. There was the service, then a trip to the cemetery to finally bury Emilie Agreste. Then there had been a reception at a hall nearby, at the insistence of Adrien's aunt, and that had been the most exhausting part by far. Everyone wanted to talk to Adrien and express their condolences for both Emilie's death and Mr. Agreste's arrest, and since he didn't have any other siblings, pretty much all of the attention was on him. Amelie had joined him for a bit to divert some of the attention, but it was all just so much.

Adrien was very glad when the Dupain-Chengs decided that it was time for them to go. They waved good-bye to all of the people who had come to mourn his mom, and then the day was done. Finally.

Adrien sighed, leaning back in his car seat as Mr. Dupain maneuvered the car down the streets back towards the bakery. That was done. It was over. He was still going to mourn his mom, of course, but he could focus on something else now. His mom would want him to move on with his life, like he had been doing the past several years.

And thankfully, he had a new family to help him do just that.

a/n: One more chapter! Just the epilogue to go- and to be honest, there's mostly an epilogue because at some point I started mentally designing and redesigning Adrien's room at the Dupain-Cheng place and got carried away and then had to include it in the story.

...anyway.

As always, comments make my day! :)