Marinette didn't turn around when the "door" to the makeshift room that she and Adrien had been assigned opened. She had told Mihaela to just put them in a tent like the other refugees, but Mihaela had insisted. The Angolan Temple was the largest of the African Miraculous Temples, with plenty of rooms and space inside for the Angolans, along with selected others. There wasn't enough space for all the heroes, or even all the miraculous users – Nino, Alya, and Chloe were all in the "Hero Town" section at the bottom of the temple's entrance path with the other heroes. But by erecting temporary walls in the training room and part of the dining room, the Angolans had created rooms for at least her and Adrien, Julia, and Jack to all stay in the Temple, while Yousef and Amina had their own guest room – keeping the leaders of the miraculous teams together had seemed important under the circumstances, particularly with Dark Acolytes staying in the refugee camp and watching them from the bluff above. And being inside, they would all be able to meet more conveniently to figure out their next steps, once Bunnyx returned from her mission. And once they reclaimed the Butterfly Miraculous. And once they beat back all of the other villains that had begun crawling out of the woodwork. And…

It was a daunting list.

The curtain fluttered the slightest bit as someone entered the room, making no more noise than a cat as they passed. Still Marinette didn't turn or acknowledge them. Over the last week, everyone had needed something from her, and she had hardly anything to give anymore. Friends had died. More had been left behind. Her family was missing. They may all have come up with their plan, but she was the one that everyone else had looked to for answers, for guidance, for leadership. She was supposed to be the leader of the Heroes of Paris. And she had failed. The cot shifted behind her as someone sat down on the edge. From her nest on the makeshift nightstand beside the cot, Tikki looked up from her snack. Marinette tensed.

"What do you want?" she demanded of the intruder, still not turning to look at them.

"Just to see how my incredible, beautiful, brave fiancée is doing."

Marinette scoffed darkly and turned to glare at Adrien. "Well, you can see," she retorted shortly. "How did you think she would be doing?"

Adrien placed a hand on her shoulder and gently drew her back to lean into his chest, pulling her into his lap and wrapping his arms around her. "I figured she would be doing about as well as everyone else has been," he admitted, brushing an unshed tear away from the corner of her eye.

"So… poorly?" She nested into his arms, resting her head against his shoulder.

His shoulders slumped. "Yeah."

She nodded, but without putting any force behind it. "We lost. So much. We lost Paris. We lost so many of our friends who were left behind back in Paris. We lost heroes – killed! We lost Pablo! We even–even–" She bit back a sob and buried her face in Adrien's chest, finally letting out all of the grief and anger and shame and frustration that she had been bottling up for days. "Max…"

Adrien rested his chin on her hair, hugging her tightly. "You've been putting so much on yourself, Bug," he whispered gently. "Trying to bear the load of everyone's mistakes. But you don't have to bear it all alone. You aren't alone."

Marinette shuddered, clenching her eyes tightly shut. Sabrina's reaction to Max's… death… "Sabrina is alone. Julia is alone. Everyone is so alone…"

Adrien shook his head. "Julia is not alone," he told her. "She has us. She has Paola and Dan and the rest of her team. She has people around her. It's not the same… but she's not alone."

"But Sabrina–"

Adrien lead out a breath. "She ran off on her own," he acknowledged. "That was her decision. But still, she had us. She didn't have to be alone, if she hadn't chosen to be alone."

"But you weren't there…" Marinette told him. "Sabrina was devastated. Paola had to drag Julia away after…" She swallowed hard, looking down at his chest. "This is such a dangerous life."

He nodded, squeezing her tighter. "We already knew it was dangerous," he pointed out. "We accept that danger every time we transform."

Marinette let out a breath. "It's still so different when it's one of our teammates."

"It could have been so many more."

Marinette froze. So many other heroes had followed her – had trusted her in that fight. And she had led several of them to their deaths. Pablo had died in Paris because he came to help her. Max had died because he trusted her. Sabianjeira, Estrella, so many others… they had all fought for her. Master Fu had died believing in her to take up his burden. And now they were all dead. They had believed in her, and she had let them down.

And one of those had been Adrien – her partner, her best friend, the love of her life.

What if it had been him?

"So many died because of me…"

Adrien held her away from himself and tipped her chin up, forcing her to look into his eyes. "Not because of you, Princess; because of the Tarasque," he insisted. "You did the best you could–"

"And the best I could wasn't good enough!" she shrieked, her voice echoing off the stone ceiling high above them. She gasped – who else had heard her? Softer, she whispered, "I wasn't good enough."

"You are good," Adrien whispered back, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "You haven't lost anyone's faith. I will follow you anywhere – I purr-omise."

She frowned. "And what if I get you killed next time?" she demanded, glaring at him. "I–I couldn't live with myself if that happened."

He nodded. "And I couldn't live with myself if I didn't do everything possible to keep you safe," he answered. "I will do everything I can to protect you, Milady – my love."

She shivered. "I couldn't ask you to do that – for me…"

He shrugged. "It's no less than what Pablo did for Julia."

Her eyes widened in horror. "And you saw how devastated she was! You would put me through that?"

"If it meant you lived? Yes. Without hesitation."

"No! I–I won't let you!"

Adrien smiled sympathetically. "It's not your choice to make, Milady," he told her, too calmly. "It's a choice I made years ago."

"Because I'm Ladybug?"

"Because I love you."

"And because I love you," she shot back, her eyes flashing with rage, "I never want to see you do that!"

He grinned sheepishly. "I don't exactly want to do it," he acceded. "It's definitely not my first choice."

Marinette pursed her lips and wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him close. "I love you," she whispered. "So much."

He squeezed her tightly. "And I love you, too, Milady."

For the first time that day, Marinette finally started to feel some of the tension in her stomach dissipating. When she was with Adrien, so many of her cares and stresses started to melt away. He was her other half, her rock; without him, she was incomplete. "It's just so hard," she grumbled. "Everyone has gotten so beaten down by what happened…"

Adrien hummed thoughtfully. "I think I have an idea that might encourage everyone: will you marry me?"

Marinette gave him a deadpan look, waved her ring in his face, and said, "Um, yes."

He grinned cheekily. "No – I mean here." She blinked. "In Angola," he clarified.

"What." Her jaw dropped in befuddlement. "You're–you're actually being serious, aren't you?"

He nodded insistently. "Absolutely. Everyone thinks we lost–"

"Which we did," she interrupted, folding her arms.

"Which we did," he agreed, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "But that loss doesn't mean we've given up hope, does it?"

"No; of course not!"

"But so many people think that Ladybug and Cat Noir have given up, that we fled from Paris just so we could survive," he explained patiently. "But I believe that we are going to win. I believe that we have hope. So I believe that we will have a future, that life will continue after the Tarasque is defeated. Do you?"

"Yes…"

"Then what better symbol is there for that commitment than for Ladybug and Cat Noir to get married?"

"A real marriage?"

"Naturally."

She blushed. "But what about Adrien and Marinette?"

"What about them?"

"Are they married, too, then?"

"I mean, they're us, so…" He shrugged. "We can figure that out later," he answered. "But this way, if anything happened to me, you would still get Agreste, and have the name to go with it."

Marinette narrowed her eyes, glaring at him. "Oh, no, you are not leaving me a new widow if I agree to this!" she demanded, poking him in the chest.

"Milady," he assured her, "that is not my intent, or my plan. But still…" He took her hand in his and gently closed her fingers, pressing a kiss to the knuckles.

She sighed in resignation. "You've put a lot of thought into this, haven't you?"

He nodded. "I'm always going to protect you," he promised. "But I can't protect you if I get killed. But this way I can. At least a little."

She arched an eyebrow. "You honestly think Mom would–would–" Her throat clenched shut at the thought. Her parents, Emilie… so many were stuck back in Paris, and they had no way of knowing what was happening there. Were they even still alive? Everything was completely wrong. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. It wasn't supposed to be happening here. But here is where they were. She looked down at her engagement ring, and a bit of the tightness in her chest started to relax. If just the thought could bolster her confidence, maybe the act could do the same for others. Finally she sighed. "I suppose it's not the worst idea you've ever had…" she allowed. He raised an eyebrow in a question. Sighing, she leaned in and kissed him. "And I guess if the worst happens, I'd rather die as 'Marinette Agreste.'"