When Marinette woke up Sunday morning she felt the pain from her palms as she flexed her fingers. She had wanted to work a bit for the project, but the uncomfortable feeling let her know that it wasn't happening anytime soon. She wriggled her body off the bed, before climbing down from the loft. "Tikki Can you help me take out the miracle box later this afternoon? I want to let some of the kwamis out, but I don't want to hurt myself."

"Of course Marinette, I'm sure they will be very happy to hear your decision. Have you chosen who you'll let out?"

"I think Mullo, I kind of miss her, haven't seen her since the whole Kwamibuster ordeal." Tikki smiled as she floated down on Marinette's shoulder, giving the bluenette a hug to her cheeks, "I'm sure she'll be very happy." With a nod, she let the kwami float to her hiding place, where she would most likely eat as Marinette herself had breakfast.

She caught eye of her mom cooking as she went down the stairs. "Hey, honey. Didn't expect you to be up so early, I was just going to leave this in the microwave before going downstairs to help your dad, but I guess it's best to eat while it's warm. I'll finish up in a few minutes, also how about we change those bandages and add some fresh aloe vera and some cream after you're finished?"

"Yeah, that'd be great maman." She gave her maman a quick kiss on the cheek, before sitting down at the dining table. Staring out the window, hearing the people out on the street, cars rushing through the streets. Part of her wondered how Chat was after leaving her house way after midnight when they had been too caught up in conversation.

She heard a plate being put in front of her, making her turn in the direction of her mom. "I'll go and cut up some new leaves while you eat, okay?"

"Yeah, thanks, maman." She dived into her breakfast, savoring the scrambled eggs, before downing a little bit of her coffee. Once finished, Sabine approached her with both aloe leaf and bandages in hand, laying them down on the side before unwrapping the bandages on her hands. "You haven't changed these since yesterday, you should've changed them before going to sleep, add some moisture to it."

She had however, done exactly that. Or well, Chat had to be more exact. He had been more than willing to help her with the care of her burn, despite it being as slight as it was. She also hadn't expected him not know what he had to do before she even told him anything, but it was a pleasant surprise, much like almost every time he surprised her recently. She still remembered the way he had been carefully gliding through the motions, making sure his claws didn't touch her, his gloves cool against her warm skin.

As her maman removed the bandage her skin already looking less red than it had yesterday. Going through the motions of bandaging quickly, she kissed her mom as thanks before heading towards her room, ready to get her plans into motion. She listened as she waited for her mom to leave the house. Once she heard the familiar sound of the front door closing she turned towards where she knew Tikki was hiding.

"Tikki, I think I can take out the box, I'm much better." Flying out from her spot, the kwami stopped in front of her. "Are you sure? It's fine if you can't do it, it's not too heavy." She smiled as she nodded, "I'm sure I can do it." She walked to where she hid the box, crouching as she tried to balance herself, grabbing the box with her palms, where the burn was most faint.

With the box in hand, she walked to her desk before setting it down, not wanting to drop it. She opened it, grabbing the mouse miraculous before closing it once again, hiding it from view just in case. With a bright light, Mullo came into view.

"Hello, Master. It's so glad to see you again. What's the reason for you to let me out of the box? Do you need my help today?"

"No, Mullo. I just want to ask you a few questions about your powers and then you can play with Tikki in my room." With a nod, the kwami floated down before settling down on her desk, as she took out some cheese to feed them. "How about we start with what you prefer eating? Because I could only think of giving you cheese."

After about half an hour of back and forth with the kwami, in which Tikki sometimes also joined in to give a little bit of insight, Marinette felt like she knew just about enough of the mouse miraculous, now she had to think someone who'd she could give it to in the future.

She had been planning on who she could give each kwami, while keeping in mind that she would need to not use her old friends anymore, or perhaps occasionally it wouldn't hurt. But then again, Hawkmoth had used the public knowledge over Chloe's identity to his advantage. Undecided, she tossed the paper that had the codes for each kwami and person combination that had come to mind.

She turned around when she realized that she hadn't heard Mullo for a while, looking in front of her Tikki had been laying down on her desk with her as she had struggled to think of new heroes. "Where's Mullo?"

"I saw her playing around your bed, so I decided to just let her be." Turning around, she got up and headed to the stairs that lead to the bed loft.

"Mullo? I think it's time for you to go back to the box." She waited for a response, sharing a look with Tikki when no response came about. "Mullo?"

A whine came from her bed, startling her and Tikki, who flew quickly up to her bed, Marinette following closely behind. "Mullo, are you okay?" There, on top of her messy bed sheets, laid the tiny god, panting and short of breath. Oh no, it was happening again and this time she didn't have Master Fu around. How was one supposed to take care of a kwami? What magic could possibly care her? She hadn't been taught this, Master Fu hadn't gotten that far, and now she felt inadequate. "Tikki, what's wrong with Mullo?"

"I think she's sick." She looked down at the sick kwami before looking up at her own. "Yeah, I can see that. What can I do to help?" Frowning before flying down to the sick kwami, Tikki laid down on the bed. "I'm not sure, we can ask Wayzz for aid."

"Take out another miraculous?"

"It's the only way, I was cooped up inside the box for most of my time with the Master. Wayzz, however, spent much time alongside him. He should know what to do." Scrambling down from the loft, she grabbed the miracle box, ignoring the sting on her hands as she struggled to open it before grabbing the turtle miraculous."

A bright light left Wayzz in front of her. "Marinette, is there anything going on? Mullo has been here for quite a while."

"Mullo's sick. I don't know what's wrong or how I can fix it, Master Fu never told me how to deal with this. I can't do this without him." She felt a tear roll down her face, Wayzz frowning in concern as he floated up to her cheeks. "It's okay, I'll teach you one of the things I picked up while I was with the Master. He never really knew whether he should've taught me how, but I guess he just wanted to make sure we'd be safe even after he was gone."

"Wayzz, I'm sorry. I hadn't realized you probably missed Master so much. Now, what do we have to do?" Standing up, she headed towards the ill kwami, exchanging glances with Wayzz as he checked Mullo. He looked up at her with a small smile. "Do you perhaps happen to have a gong?"

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Marinette, in fact, did not have a gong. Which explained why she was currently sneaking out of her house with the mission of finding a gong as fast and inconspicuously as she could. She walked towards an Asian novelty store that was just a few blocks away, looking around to see if they had any gongs. No such luck.

"If it helps, Master bought his last gong just a few blocks away from here, at a Buddhist shop."

"Okay, let's just hurry up. I don't want maman going up and not finding me there, or worse finding Mullo." She hurried down the sidewalk, occasionally bumping into others as she speed-walked, her calves staring to hurt despite the rush to get there as quickly as possible. "There, it's that shop."

Once inside, she glanced at the shelves filled with incense, gongs laid out behind the counter and small decorations gathered around the wall. Behind the counter stood an old lady, a smile on her face as she looked at the slightly disheveled teen, "How may I help you?"

"I was looking for a gong." She looked at the wall behind the lady, before looking back down at the petite woman. "Well, there's a fine selection here, anything particular?"

She looked down at her purse, hoping Wayzz would give her an indication, only to be answered with a shrug. "Anything will be fine. Actually, the cheapest would be a good place to start." With a smile and a nod, the lady turned to the wall, before turning around with a small gong in hand. "That's perhaps a bit too small."

"Okay, how about this one?" Taking out another one that seemed to be around 25cm wide. "That one's good. How much is it?"

"This one? A hundred euros." Marinette felt her mouth agape as she felt the voice of the lady saying the price circle around her head. A hundred euros. That was as much as she made in more than five commissions. She couldn't possibly afford this! But she also had to take care of Mullo.

She bit her lip as she worried. Should she call Chat and ask him whether he'd be willing to split the bill? She didn't even let herself think that too long before scratching the idea out. She was the guardian, it was her duty to take care of the kwamis. "I could give you if you'd like." Lifting her eyes up to look at the old lady, her mouth was left agape. "You'd do that?"

"Yes, you seem like a sweet girl, and I think you perhaps don't have the money for this gong. Instead, I'd like if you ran an errand for me and I'll leave this gong at sixty euros, how does that sound?"

"Yes! Thank you, what do you need?" The old lady bent down, taking a box in her hands before laying it down on the counter. "I need you to leave this at the post office if you're so kind. But be careful, it's very fragile."

Marinette knew a couple things about fragile packages, and one of them is that she should definitely not be the one to carry one, but how could refuse such an offer? After paying for the gong, and securing it she grabbed the box, finding it less heavy than she had imagined, and went on her way to the nearest postal office.

It was almost evening when she was back at her room, thankfully her mother hadn't noticed her absence. She walked towards her bed, calling out to Mullo, hoping she'd show up. "Tikki, go look for Mullo while I talk with Wayzz."

Turning to the turtle kwami, she felt his gaze burn against her skin with expectation. Would she really be able to do this?

"I'm sure you'll do great, Marinette. Master Fu did the first time he did it."

"I'm not Master Fu, you know that. I could fail."

"Or you could succeed." She shook her head at his words, how could they expect so much from her when all she had been given was the whole of Paris on her shoulders? "I'm not Master Fu, I could fail at any given moment. He was chosen to be a guardian. I'm just here because of a mistake."

"You were chosen too, don't forget that Marinette."

"It's not the same, I wasn't chosen by the order of guardians." The tiny god shrugged as he floated down until he rested on top of the bed. "Does it matter? Now, for healing Mullo you will need…" And she did what she was told. Mullo had been weak when she reappeared next to Tikki, claiming to have seen a shadow on top of the skylight and had proceeded to hide.

Now much better, but still a tad weaker than the usual, Mullo entered the miracle box to rest the rest of it away. Marinette could tell her attempt at healing the kwami hadn't been as effective as Master Fu's was, she could tell in between the crease of Wayzz eyes, in the way his lips seemed to crinkle in a frown. She could tell in the way Mullo had floated back to the miracle box. She had been a failure, fell behind expectations. She could still feel the vibrations of the gong against her sensitive skin, every bang in tune leaving the taste of desperation in her.

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Marinette had been struggling with writing on her computer when she heard the familiar thump on her balcony, followed by the knock on the trapdoor. She saw blond hair peek from the door, as she turned around.

"You can come in." At her words, Chat dropped in unto her bed, before quickly making his way to where she sat. "Hey, are you feeling better today?" She felt confused at his words, when realization overcame her when he pointed at her hands.

"Yeah, my hands are okay. Just a bit itchy and sore, should be completely fine in about a week." He grabbed her hands, turning them around as if he could see behind the bandages, lightly running his fingers over it. "So, it doesn't hurt anymore?" shaking her head, she moved towards her computer that had laid unattended on her desk. "Not much, I have a little bit of a hard time typing though."

"I can help you with that." She turned towards her partner, looking from the computer and back to his eager face. "If you wish to do so."

"Yeah, just tell me what to write." Grabbing her notes, she started telling him what to search and would tell him to copy whatever caught her attention, along with the reference.

It had been an hour later when she felt the pain on her back from slouching so much. She turned on her phone, looking at the hour, seeing it was past midnight. She knew her parents would be knocked dead cold in sleep.

"Chat, do you want to go downstairs and eat some snacks?" She saw instantly how his face light up the moment he turned around to face her.

"I can?" She nodded as she looked at the door that lead to the downstairs. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure my parents must be in deep sleep right now. It should be okay, but I'll check first before giving you the greenlight, okay?" With his nod of approval, she ventured downstairs, making a bit of a ruckus to make sure they wouldn't wake up. She knew both her parents to heavy sleepers, but sometimes her maman would wake up in the middle of the night if she made too much noise in the kitchen. After making enough noise that would no doubt wake up her mom if she was having a light sleep night, she went up to her room once again.

"It's safe, come on." He followed closely behind her as she went straight to the kitchen. There were fewer leftovers than usual, but still enough to where the two teens could satisfy their hunger.

"You always give me leftovers, I think I'll become the official vacuum for the bakery." She took a bite of her madeleine, before nudging him on his side. "You'll have to apply for that."

"Why should I? The baker's daughter lets me in illegally." The two laughed as they downed the snacks. Once finished he cleaned everything not wanting her to get her bandages wet. "Do you need them changed?"

"Yeah, haven't changed them since morning. Could you help me?" With a nod, he ran upstairs, her following him at a leisure pace. When she got to her room she noticed that he had already laid out the bandages and the cream. "Where's the aloe?"

"It's in the fridge, mom cut up some more pieces and took out all the gel so it would be ready to use. Left side door, on the second shelf." She sat down on the floor, seeing him come back up quickly with the jar in hand. She observed his face as he unwrapped the bandage, his face serious as her skin came in view.

"See? It's no so red anymore, thankfully there's only a blister here and there." His gaze tore away from her skin to land on her face. "I'm sure it hurts either way, also blisters suck."

"Have you ever been burnt?" He shook his head as he looked back down to her hands, this time applying the aloe gel. "No, only once when fighting an akuma, and I was healed after that any ways." She remembered that fight, it had torn her heart out to see his face burnt and his hair scorched, could almost smell it as she remembered it. "Must have hurt a lot either way. I saw the pictures and it looked like third degree burns."

"It did hurt, but I'm glad I didn't have to deal with it for too long, also I'm sorry you had to see those pictures, I bet they weren't pretty."

"You haven't seen them?" He shook his head as he moved on to apply the cream, claws digging into the jar, yet smoothing gently unto her skin without ever hurting her. "I can't, it feels weird knowing that you were suffering for a while and then it's suddenly gone, no real scar to prove the pain you went through for that moment." He finished her bandages, but still kept loose hold of her hands.

Letting loose of one of her hands, she lifted it to caress his face with the back of her hand, "I'm glad Ladybug fixed everything." Her hand drifted into his soft hair, letting the wild locks glide between her fingers. "Your hair was fully burnt, your face… I-"

"Don't think about it. I'm fine now." Letting her hand drop, she nodded in reluctance. "Okay."

I've been thinking about perhaps changing my update day to either Fridays or Mondays, let me know which you prefer!

The akuma I talk about in this chapter is imaginary, hasn't happened in the series, but like idk I thought it'd be nice if Adrien knew how it felt to get burnt but had no real scar to show for it, because *magic*

Also, I literally just realized there's a freaking app so like, that facilitates the whole laptop being a pain in the ass situation!