Hi everyone! This fic was inspired by the sample of a song that we got from the Awakening movie! I can't wait to see it, what about you?

Also, in this fic, Fu is still the Guardian!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: English isn't my first language. I'm doing my best so please, just keep it in mind! And if you see some terrible mistake, please kindly tell me! :)

Rien qu'une fois
Ne me voit pas comme Chat
Je suis si prêt de toi
Pour la première fois

[...]

Je veux bien t'offrir cette danse mon chat
Mais ce sera pour moi la dernière fois...

Miraculous Awakening song sample.

It had been an accident, she obviously never planned on this happening. She had been so careful, so cautious. Always saying no to his request, always making sure that their identities were protected, simply because she understood the risk. She knew what would happen if Chat figured out who she was. She remembered Chat Blanc perfectly well and still had horrible nightmares about it. Nightmares that woke her up in the middle of the night, screaming and covered in a cold sweat. She knew better than anyone - except maybe Bunnix - what the consequences of a reveal, of their love, was.

Chaos. Destruction. Pain. Death.

She wouldn't risk that. Wouldn't risk Paris and its inhabitants.

Wouldn't risk Chat Noir.

And yet, here she was. Holding Chat Noir in her arms as his transformation dropped. Holding Adrien Agreste. How was that even possible? Part of her mind couldn't believe it as Plagg fell down on his owner's chest, also unconscious. But honestly, she couldn't care less about her crush right now. She cared about her partner, her best friend.

"M'Lady, are you alright?" Chat Noir had asked.

She was lying on the ground, seeing stars even though the sun had just started setting, while he was crunched beside her, searching her body for injuries.

"Peachy," she had answered, spitting out blood, which made Chat's face blanched.

"You don't look good…"

"I'm fine. The cure will fix me up as soon as we get his akuma."

She tried sitting back up, grunting as she did so, even with Chat helping her. They both glanced at Apollyon, who didn't care about them one bit and was more focused on destroying absolutely everything and everyone on his path. He was ridiculously tall, almost as big as the Eiffel Tower, which was now lying on the ground, shattered to pieces.

"Just please, take it easy," Chat had said, still eyeing the villain. "I'm the one supposed to take the hit."

He turned to look at her, frowning. "Don't ever take a hit for me again. Got it?"

"We are a team, Kitty. I can't just let you -"

"Yes you can, and you will. My job is to protect you while you save everyone. That's the way it works."

"Alright, alright, we'll talk about it later. Let's go kick his ass for now."

"Now that's a plan!"

They went back into what was their hardest fight ever. Apollyon was merciless. He didn't care about who or what he was hitting. His knight attire looked like it had seen better days, but was still apparently pretty damn unbreakable. And given the fact that he was bigger, taller and stronger than life… Well, let's just say that they would both rather be doing their math homework, which was saying a lot.

They fought him for what seemed like an eternity. And after a while, they finally managed to locate his akuma, in a little diamond on his helmet. Chat had called his cataclysm and she had called her lucky charm. Even though they were both pretty bruised up, everything was going well. That is, until everything went downhill.

She held the helmet, ready to break it and purify the akuma, when Apollyon decided to give one final blow that she didn't see coming. The villain lifted his massive sword, ready to strike the heroine with it, but instead managed to knock out Chat Noir, who had jumped in front of the blow. She screamed while he collapsed on the ground, several feet away, unmoving.

She broke the helmet, purified the akuma and called her cure faster than she ever did, all while running to her partner, completely ignoring the victim. She held him in her arms and used her yoyo to move them to safety on a rooftop, far away from the curious eyes of the witnesses.

"Kitty, are you okay?"

No response.

She had called the cure, why wasn't he waking up? Why wasn't he moving? Oh gosh, was he even breathing?

"Chaton, please… Don't do this to me..."

His ring gave its final warning and seconds later, a green light enveloped him.

"Plagg?" she called the small god.

"Hungry…" he answered, voice low. "I'm so... Adrien? Adrien!"

He climbed upon his chest, stopping right underneath his charge's chin. "Kid, c'mon, wake up!"

"Plagg, why isn't he waking up?" she cried, pulling her hair which had come loose at some point in the battle.

"I don't know… His heart's barely beating… Oh no, not again…"

"No, no, no, no!"

She leaned over him, crying her eyes out and tightly hugged his body, folding her arms around him and knowing in her heart that she was never going to let go.

"We need to bring him to the hospital," she eventually said in between sobs. "They can save him!"

"No," Plagg answered. "We need to bring him to the Guardian. He's the only one who can -"

"That won't be necessary," a voice said behind them.

Ladybug didn't let go of Chat - no, Adrien -, only slightly turned her head to see Fu standing right behind her, Wayzz by his side.

"I'll take care of him."

With surprising force, he broke Ladybug's hold on Chat and took the boy in his arms, as though he weighed absolutely nothing. She moved to follow them, but Fu shook his head.

"No. Go back home, Ladybug."

"No, I can't! I need to stay with him!"

"I'll find you once it's over. Go home."

"No!"

He frowned and simply said, "Yes."

There was something in his voice that made Ladybug freeze. An undeniable authority that she simply couldn't resist.

He disappeared into the night, Wayzz and Plagg after him, the latter giving her one last pained look before following the Guardian and his chosen.

Now here she was, alone in her room in the middle of the night, still waiting for some news, Fu's words on repeat in her head.

I'll find you once it's over. I'll find you once it's over. I'll find you once it's over, once it's over, once it's over…

Not once Adrien is safe. Once it's over.

"You should try to sleep, Marinette," Tikki said and even though she tried to hide it, her concern was evident in her voice.

"I don't understand what happened…"

"He protected you."

"Well, I don't want him to protect me anymore!" Marinette finally exploded, not even caring about the fact that her parents were sleeping downstairs, unaware of what their daughter was going through. "I want him to be safe, healthy, and happy! I don't want him to, to… to die!"

She collapsed on her knees, her hands on her chest because god, it hurt so badly. She had never felt this way before. Like the whole world was collapsing around her and on her. Breathing was hard, she was crying so hard she couldn't even see anymore and she was pretty sure that her heart was going to explode soon.

"Ladybug."

She lifted her head and through her tears managed to see Fu, looking at her with a pained expression on his face.

"Oh no," she said, starting to hyperventilate again, "No, it's can't be, please tell me he's not -"

"Chat Noir is fine," Fu interrupted and suddenly, the world started spinning again. "Or at least, he will be. You don't need to worry anymore."

"Thank you," she breathed, unable to move from her spot on the floor. "Thank you for saving him."

He simply nodded. "Ladybug, there's something we need to talk about."

"What? Is it about Chat, I mean Adrien?"

"Yes, and no. It's about your secret identities."

"Oh please, don't take his miraculous away!" she pleaded, finally standing up. "I swear, it was an accident, we've been careful!"

"I won't take Chat Noir's miraculous. However…"

He paused and once again, he looked at her with so much pain that Marinette guessed what he was about to say right before he actually said it.

"I'll need to take yours."

"What?" Tikki and Marinette screamed at the same time.

"You've been an incredible Ladybug. But the way you reacted to his injuries shows me that you can't continue like this. You have become too attached."

This can't be happening, she thought.

"Are you serious?" Marinette asked. "What was I supposed to do? He's my partner, my best friend, my -"

"Lover?"

"No. He's not."

Anyone with ears would have perceived the hesitation and the longing in her voice.

"Ladybug… Marinette. You love him, anyone can see it. And now that you know about his identity…"

"I won't -"

"You'll need to forget."

She blinked a few times, confused. "To forget?"

"It will take a couple of days to prepare the recipe, but yes. You will forget all about being Ladybug and about who Chat Noir is. You will remember Adrien as your classmate, you will remember that there is a Ladybug, but you won't remember that it was you."

"Please, don't do this…," she glanced at Tikki who looked just as hurt, confused and angry as her. "There must be another way!"

"I'm sorry, there's none. And it's non-negotiable. In three days, you and Chat Noir will meet me at my place. You will be able to say your goodbyes to him then."

He turned around to leave before pausing. "I'm sorry it came to this," he added without looking at her, disappearing in the night.

"This can't be happening," she whispered under her breath. "Tikki, please, tell me this is all a nightmare…"

"I'm so, so sorry, Marinette…"

So no, Marinette never planned for any of this to happen. She never imagined even in her worst nightmares that this day would come. A day where she had to give her miraculous back. She had done her best, said goodbye to parts of her innocence, said goodbye to her childhood, which she would never get back. All of this to be the hero Paris needed. And yet here she was, because of one mistake. Because of what she felt for Chat, for Adrien, her best friend, her partner, and yes, the boy she'd been in love with for such a long time now.

She could understand where Fu was coming from, of course. But understanding didn't make the pain hurt any less. And therefore, for the second time that day, Marinette's world collapsed around her as her heart broke and shattered into million pieces.

Author's note

Likes and comments are always so so so appreciated! They really mean the world to me and it's what keeps me writing :)