AN: So, like I said…the last chapter was kind of like the end of the story. Hopefully I don't lose you guys just because the LadyNoir storyline has concluded. These last two chapters will show Adrien coping with the aftereffects of what happened. I feel these two chapters tie the ends up nicely…but I guess I might be a little biased. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 14: Epilogue (Part 1)

Ladybug always knew exactly what to say and Adrien was so thankful for that. After learning that he'd been akumatized and, worse, that he'd hurt Ladybug with his own power, Adrien had been feeling terrible, ready to renounce his ring and never deal with anything Miraculous ever again. However, Ladybug refused to let her partner just walk away like that and she'd managed to convince him to stay with her and talk things out until he felt better. True to her word, Ladybug stayed by his side until Cat Noir had finally convinced her that he was calmed and thinking rationally once again. Even when they finally decided to part ways sometime after doing their "Pound It!" together, Cat Noir was certain that Ladybug would graciously have followed him home if there was no risk to their secret identities. Cat Noir could tell that she was still a little hesitant to see him go, but he managed to convince her that everything was fine again, reminding her that they would see each other again on the next upcoming patrol, if not before. It was hard to say when Hawk Moth would strike again with a different akuma target. If there was anything that Cat Noir knew about Hawk Moth, he would be right back to akumatizing people again as soon as possible. It didn't matter to the old man that he'd just created his strongest akuma ever with Cat Noir; Hawk Moth wouldn't rest until he accomplished his goal or was defeated, whichever happened to come first. Cat Noir could only hope that it would be the latter. Cat Noir's akumatization felt like it had shown a small taste of what might possibly happen if Hawk Moth managed to win someday. What happened today had been bad enough. Adrien didn't want to think about what would happen if he and Ladybug would fail, the effect that would have on Paris! Never would he willingly allow that to happen, Adrien vowed silently. It was a promise that he, alongside Ladybug, had made a few years ago when they were first getting started. That same fire, the spark that was lit then, continued to burn just as strong today.

For now, though, Adrien wished that he could feel as confident about returning back home. Because he'd been akumatized for several days and spent that time sitting up on the roof alone (even if he didn't actually remember that time), Adrien knew that his father was going to be very upset with him for not returning home. It hadn't been Adrien's fault but he knew that he couldn't tell that to his father. He couldn't say the reason real why he had not come home, that it was because he had been akumatized. Adrien Agreste hadn't been akumatized; Cat Noir had. Even though Adrien was certain that his father wouldn't make the connection (heck, he probably didn't even know that Cat Noir was akumatized), he didn't want to give the man any indication that would lead to the discovery that he was also Cat Noir.

Instead, as Cat Noir vaulted his way back toward the Agreste mansion, he tried to decide on a story to explain why Adrien ended up going missing for several days. Nothing that he came up with sounded reasonable enough. Adrien had always thought that the stories he told were suitable and that they made sense. However, after his recent breakup with Kagami, Adrien had been left to rethink this. She'd ended their relationship because she'd gotten frustrated by his lies and she'd even managed to catch him in one. She'd found his Marinette Lucky Charm after he'd claimed to have left to go search for it. This was something that still frustrated Adrien. How was he to have known that it had actually fallen out of his pocket, probably on the Couffaine houseboat like he'd said. How ironic! Sometimes he really did curse his Cat Noir bad luck!

The mansion arose in the distance and Cat Noir knew that he was running out of time to think of an excuse. He could have stopped and paced along a rooftop until he thought of something suitable, but Cat Noir turned down that idea. Adrien had already been missing from home long enough. Might as well go and take whatever punishment his father would give him! Finally, Adrien decided that he'd just recycle his "I ran away" excuse that he'd used on that first Christmas Eve after his mother's disapperance. He was certain that would be believable enough for his father.

Finding a secluded space near the mansion, Cat Noir slipped down so he could drop his transformation. He gave a quick look around his surroundings before whispering "Claws In." Within seconds, Cat Noir changed back into Adrien and the boy caught Plagg as his kwami flew out of his ring. Adrien placed Plagg into the pocket on the inside of his white jacket, his kwami's usual hiding place. After a quick peek out to make sure that the coast was clear and that no one would notice Adrien Agreste leaving the spot where Cat Noir had just been, he walked casually out into the open and continued to his destination.

The gates of the Agreste mansion loomed in front of Adrien. As always, they were tall and imposing and locked. There was a small part of Adrien that was grateful that the gates were always shut and locked; it kept his crazy fans out and away from him. However, those very same gates would also keep him locked inside, safely tucked away from society—at least that's what his father would say.

With a sigh, Adrien pressed the button on the intercom and waited. He waited only seconds before the camera popped out of the wall and shot out to meet his face.

"Adrien!" came Nathalie's shocked voice.

The metal gate immediately clicked open and Adrien didn't wait for the camera to disappear back into the wall before stepping inside the grounds of the Agreste mansion. Without turning back, he heard the gate click shut once again, trapping him again in the place that he was to call home.

In the distance, the front door of the mansion opened and Adrien saw Nathalie and the Gorilla, his bodyguard, step out to wait for him to approach. Smiles were already uncommon in Adrien's household, but the deep frowns on Nathalie's and Gorilla's faces told Adrien that he wasn't going to like what was about to happen.

Adrien walked up to meet the two adults. "Uh, hi?" he greeted with a small wave, trying to channel a little of his Cat Noir courage because he was definitely going to need it. Nathalie and Gorilla were scary enough, but Adrien feared facing his father most of all. These would be his last moments of relative freedom. Surely, his irate father was going to pull him out of school after this. Perhaps, Adrien thought, he actually was going to end up locked in his bedroom for the rest of his childhood, fed meals through a "doggy door" that would be installed specially for such a purpose, too small to sneak out of but just large enough for a tray of food.

"Your father is waiting for you," Nathalie told Adrien. Her voice betrayed no emotion and the poor boy couldn't even begin to guess how the conversation with his father would go. She pushed the door behind her open a little further, enough so Adrien could walk past and into the open foyer of the mansion.

Gabriel Agreste stood straight and tall in the center landing of the staircase, imposing as always with his emotionless expression gazing down upon his son as if the boy was something quite unimpressive. Adrien tried not to hide his nervousness, but he knew that the conversation was going to be very serious. His father had actually come out to take with him in-person instead of through a screen.

"Hello, Father," Adrien greeted, thick with formality. Now was not the time to slack off when it came to etiquette; he needed to win back as many points for himself as possible.

Gabriel said nothing as he descended the steps. Adrien waited for what felt like an eternity until his father was standing right in front of him. Even though Adrien was tall for his age, he still had to look up to meet his father's stern eyes.

"Son," his father finally spoke. "Do you realize how long you have been missing?"

Adrien didn't actually have a definite answer to that. His memory of his time akumatized had been wiped when Ladybug rescued him. However, he couldn't let his father know this. Stay in control, Adrien! he reminded himself. Ladybug helped you fill in the missing pieces. Trust her to have given you the details that you missed! "Uh, a few days?" He knew that he wasn't doing well at lying, just as he'd expected. Standing in front of his father, Adrien was cracking under the pressure and his alibi wasn't even that strong to begin with! Who runs away from home for days without packing any clothes or other essentials that they can quickly grab and shove into a bag? The last time Adrien had run away from home, on that Christmas Eve, he'd still intended to return home that night; he'd just needed an hour or so to clear his head.

"Three days, Adrien," his father continued. "You were missing for three days."

"Oh," Adrien replied, looking down. He couldn't bring himself to look into his father's eyes, to see the disappointment that he knew would be reflected there. Three days, yeah, that checks in with what Ladybug told me. Adrien still couldn't believe that he'd lost those days from his life forever; he would never remember what had happened on that roof before Ladybug freed him from the akuma's hold.

"Didn't I tell you last time that I can't have you running off like that, Adrien? You are too precious, especially now with your mother gone."

"Yes, Father," Adrien apologized. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause such a panic." This was true; Adrien hadn't asked to be akumatized, but he had done little to resist it too.

Gabriel looked over Adrien's shoulder. "Nathalie, call off the missing person's alert since Adrien has returned safely."

"Yes, Sir," Nathalie obliged from behind Adrien. He heard the heels of her shoes click across the polished marble floor as she walked over to her desk near the door.

"Now," Gabriel began again, bringing Adrien right back into the conversation, "Son, what possessed you to leave without telling anyone?"

Adrien shuddered a little. His father wasn't good at subtle. The boy had no trouble determining that his father was very upset. "I, uh..." Adrien started. He hadn't planned for this question. At first, he didn't know to say in response to his father's question, but then the lies came more naturally, like always. "I'm sorry, Father. I didn't mean to. It was just that...I was feeling overwhelmed lately. I've been so busy with everything and I guess that the stress was getting to me. Please forgive me, Father. I really didn't intend to disappear for three days." Hopefully, his father would buy these lies. Well, actually, they were more like half-truths. There was still plenty of truth in his response, but Adrien had left out some of the more crucial details that would link him back to Cat Noir.

"Hmm," Gabriel replied. Adrien waited to see how his father would react. Right now, the older Agreste male was probably trying to determine exactly what punishment would be suitable for Adrien's actions.

The minutes seemed to stretch on forever. Adrien was just about to pull out his phone and mass-text his friends to say that he would be homeschooled again when his father spoke.

"I suppose that I can have Nathalie reassess your schedule and see if any adjustments can be made."

Adrien was taken aback. In all the ways that he had played out this scenario in his head, Adrien had never expected that it might go like this. "What?" he gasped out before he could stop himself.

Gabriel stepped back away from Adrien. "If the activity load in your schedule was causing you stress, Adrien, you should have said something instead of taking such drastic measures for attention." He started to walk away, back toward the stairs so he could disappear again for another undetermined amount of time. "I can't promise that Nathalie will be able to make any significant adjustments, but I know that she will do what she can."

Adrien watched as his father reached the stairs and began to ascend. "Wait, Father!" Surprisingly, Gabriel paused and threw a glance at Adrien over his shoulder. Probably because I was rude in the way that I addressed him, Adrien remarked to himself. "You aren't going to pull me out of school, are you?" It was an honest question. Adrien's father had willingly accepted his suggestion about freeing up some extra time in the boy's overwhelmed schedule. It was suspicious. How else would that time be freed? If Adrien was to get that time back by sacrificing his attendance at Francois DuPont, then he didn't want it! He liked attending school and he definitely didn't want to go back to being homeschooled again.

"No," his father replied. "You will continue to attend that school and you will keep up with your fencing, Chinese and piano lessons. Nathalie will instead be assessing your schedule of photoshoots. Again, I doubt that any adjustments will be made, but she will do what she can."

Adrien beamed with happiness. His worst fear wasn't coming true today! He could continue to attend school with his friends! "Thank you, Father!" Sure, Adrien knew, his father was probably only being so generous because he didn't want his son to disappear again, but right now Adrien was just grateful that his father hadn't immediately pulled him out of school.

"Nathalie will take you up to your room," Adrien's father told his son over his shoulder. "Your bodyguard will make sure that you stay there." Then, without another word, Gabriel Agreste walked upstairs and disappeared in the direction of his study.

Adrien knew this meant that he was pretty much grounded to his bedroom for who knew how long, but he really couldn't bring himself to care about that. His father seemed to have been more concerned than angry with him. He could continue to attend school with his friends. Not only that, but it seemed that his father had not made the connection that Adrien's disappearance coincided with the amount of time that Cat Noir had been akumatized. Adrien knew that his father was very smart so if he hadn't made this connection, that was very much a relief. Maybe the news hadn't gotten out yet. As far as Adrien knew, only Ladybug (well, and Hawk Moth too) knew that he…that Cat Noir, had been akumatized. In fact, Adrien was certain that Alya didn't even know. He hadn't been paying much attention after Ladybug had saved him; he'd been too focused on not having a complete breakdown after learning that he'd hurt his partner with Cataclysm. Later he would check the Ladyblog to see if there were any posts about what had happened today. It wasn't like Adrien really wanted to see the reminders; he was actually hoping there would be nothing. Well, regardless, he would have plenty of time to check the Ladyblog while stuck in his room and locked under constant surveillance like some precious expensive gem.

"Come, Adrien, let's go," Nathalie called to him from the steps. She'd walked right past him and Adrien hadn't noticed as he was deep in thought.

"Yes, of course."

As he ascended the steps and walked the short distance to his room, Adrien found himself smiling a little. Maybe, just maybe, everything really would be okay again, just like Ladybug had said.

Yay! Adrien's father didn't punish him or pull him out of school…just the opposite, actually! Gabriel was worried about Adrien. Anyway, next chapter will be Adrien's return to school (and the final chapter of this story). See you then!

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